Obituary of Wayne W.J. Clifford
Wayne Wallace Jordan Clifford
May 10, 1944 – April 15, 2025
Wayne died peacefully, just a few weeks shy of his 81st birthday, after living a full and creative life. The eldest child of Wallace Jordan and Helen Watson, he was born in Toronto on May 10, 1944. He is survived by his loving partner and wife of 38 years, Mary Joan (MJ) Edwards; his beloved children, of whom he was immensely proud: Rebecca (Herschel), Paul (Kyoko), Annie (Greg) and Megan; the mothers of his children, Julia Kalotay and Valerie Hamilton; six grandchildren; his brother Douglas (Heather), and his half-sisters, Barbara (Jeff) and Tammy. He is predeceased by his brother Robert, his nephew Jeremy, and several cherished dogs, cats, hamsters, and birds.
Wayne had a challenging childhood, but found solace by immersing himself in nature and books. He grew up in a home with only three books: The Book of Mormon, the King James Bible, and the Little Golden Book of Astronomy (given to him by his grade 4 teacher). Feeling that he had to choose between two opposing worlds, it was the world of nature and science that he gravitated towards. Libraries, and the woods, fields and streams of his childhood became havens of peacefulness and possibility. As a youth, working and reading at the Oshawa Public Library, Wayne discovered the poetry of John Donne, W.B. Yeats and others. Encouraged by his English teachers, he began writing poetry at age 12, and by 16 his first poem was accepted by Fred Cogswell and published in UNB’s The Fiddlehead.
Leaving home at 16, Wayne worked many part-time jobs throughout his school years, earning his way through University of Toronto (BA English, 1967). His last two years of university were spent living and working as a type setter and acquisitions editor at Coach House Press, founded by Stan Bevington in 1965 with the publication of Man in a Window, poetry by Wayne Clifford, silk screen illustrations by Dennis Reid (later curator of the AGO). The 60th celebratory anniversary of this important event took place in Toronto on March 26th, 2025.
While attending U of T, Wayne won several Norma Epstein Prizes and was co-winner of the E. J. Pratt Prize and Medal with Michael Ondaatje in 1967. Here he also met and became friends with many influential writers and artists, including the avant-garde poet bpNichol. A friendship and poetic collaboration they began 1966 was interrupted by busy lives and then by bp’s death in 1988. In 2014 Wayne published, to critical acclaim, the finished collaborative work, Theseus, with BookThug Press.
An invited delegate to the founding conference of the League of Canadian Poets in 1966, Wayne later helped organize the Kingston Writers' Association, and the Kingston branch of Canadian Artists' Representation.
From 1967-1969 Wayne was invited to attend the University of Iowa’s prestigious International Writing Program where he received an MA in Linguistics and an MFA in Creative Writing, as well as his Journeyman’s Papers, working and studying with Harry Duncan of Cummington Press and founding Living Series, which published work by colleagues.
Wayne received two Canada Council Grants in the 1970s and published Glass/Passages (Oberon) and An Ache in the Ear (Coach House Press), designed and illustrated by David Bolduc.
Wayne’s poetic work demonstrated an independence, moving between elegant, dense and often highly musical freer compositions to an exquisitely made formalism. A master sonneteer, Wayne wrote more than 800 sonnets, publishing 4 volumes of The Exile’s Papers, in which he creatively experimented with the sonnet form. Wayne published in a broad range of journals, from The Canadian Forum, Queen's Quarterly, ARC, Querty and The Fiddlehead to avant-garde magazines like bill bisset's blewointment, bpNichol’s ganglia, and Sheila Watson's Pelican.
Wayne was first and foremost a poet. He published more than 15 books and chapbooks of poetry and had several books of criticism written about his work. It was his passion, his vocation, and his way of connecting to the world, the people and places he loved, and with himself. After 35 busy years as a professor of English and Creative Writing at St. Lawrence College in Kingston, ON – while raising his family, and with little time to devote to publishing, but still writing – Wayne retired to Halifax so that his wife could pursue a fine arts degree, and here he met many more creative people. With a Nova Scotia Arts Council Grant, he wrote and published Jane Again (sonnets), and two additional books before moving to Grand Manan where he designed, contracted and helped to build his dream home – an accomplishment of which he was immensely proud.
Wayne continued in his retirement on Grand Manan to write and publish a further seven books of poetry with The Porcupine’s Quill Press, Biblioasis, Frog Hollow Press, BookThug (now Book*Hug), and the New Brunswick Museum. He was honoured to be the first writer-in-residence with the NB Museum’s Biota Project when he attended two Biota events at the Grand Lake Protected Area during 2013-2014. His book Flying the Truck contains his poems inspired by the 50 scientists he interacted with an observed during a month of scientific collecting and research. Wayne was also pleased to be short-listed twice for the NB Book Award for Poetry (The Exile’s Papers, 2016 and Flying the Truck, 2017).
Wayne was an award-winning teacher and poet, but also a musician, an artist (photography, painting, ceramics, wood and bone carving, drawing), a creative chef, a designer and builder of many things (furniture, houses, musical instruments), a bridge player, a nature, dog and cat lover, a loving father and husband, and a good friend and mentor to many. He was a collector of musical instruments and vintage model and diecast airplanes. He loved walking in the woods and on the beaches with his dog Milly and also frequently hiked his property with his two cats, Marduk and Ishtar.
A self-taught musician and luthier, and a music lover, Wayne bought, restored, repaired, invented and built many stringed instruments, including cello and violin and variations of both. Before moving to the Maritimes, Wayne enjoyed making music with The Monday Night Boys in Kingston. He was a voracious reader of science, science fiction, poetry, mythology, medieval writers, and history. He was also an art collector and a keen watcher of many movie genres. He loved spending time canoeing and camping in his remote cottage property in south-eastern Ontario, and in retirement living in the woods, overlooking the ocean, on Grand Manan. He cherished the friends and connections he made here playing bridge, singing with the Fisherman’s Friends Choir, and hosting and attending programs at the Grand Manan Museum. His humour and wit, his love of story-telling, his infectious charm and kindness endeared him to people wherever he went.
Though his final years were marred by Parkinson’s Disease, Wayne showed fortitude here, as he had throughout his other life challenges. He got to know, and grew to love dearly, his new Griffon Dog, Piper, on her visits to the Grand Manan Nursing Home where she was frequently found snuggling with him in bed, watching movies. He treasured his visits with family members in Kingston, Peterborough, Wales, Japan, and on Grand Manan over the years. Long-distance technology meant that family could join him wherever they were, and that was a blessing.
The family would like to thank Dr. Heir and the staff of the Grand Manan Hospital and the Grand Manan Nursing Home for their excellent and compassionate care of Wayne in his final years - he certainly enjoyed teasing and interacting with them.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial donation to the Grand Manan Museum, the Grand Manan Hospital Foundation, or Parkinson Canada.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Grand Manan and in Kingston, to remember and honour Wayne, in the summer of 2025.
A Collection of Poems Recited by Wayne (Click the poem name to open)
Three Snows Into A Winter March
