Poet, Publisher of Free Lunch Literary Magazine
Wrote biographies of Cagney, Brando
August 19, 2010

Chicago Tribune
|By Margaret Ramirez, Tribune reporter

Poet and publisher Ronald C. Offen explored life's poignant moments in his verse, writing about winter's white embrace or remembering "when kisses were sweet questions."

One notable collection of his work included a poem called "God's Haircut" about an imagined meeting between two unlikely men. In the opening lines, Mr. Offen wrote:

So God decides it might be nice, to drop by Tony's barber shop, the red and white striped pole outside, spinning forever nowhere, like infinity.

Mr. Offen wrote five books of poetry, and his work appeared in more than 100 publications. But his true love was publishing Free Lunch, the literary magazine that supported aspiring poets.

For 20 years, Mr. Offen commented on each poem submitted to the magazine and delivered free issues to more than 1,200 poets.

"He was instrumental in spotting new talent," said longtime friend and playwright Bill Lederer. "His fellow poets knew him as the consummate critic who would improve upon their poems. His work is bound to grow in influence."

Mr. Offen, 79, died of cancer Monday, Aug. 9, in his Glenview home, said his wife, Beverly.

Mr. Offen was born in Chicago to Charles and Ellen Shirreffs Offen. He graduated from Austin High School and received an associate's degree from Wright College and a master's degree in English language and literature from the University of Chicago.

In 1957, Mr. Offen began his career as a poet and publisher. With R.R. Cuscaden, he was co-editor of Mainstream: A Quarterly Journal of Poetry and Odyssey: Explorations in Contemporary Poetry and the Arts, which published the early writings of Charles Bukowski and Amiri Baraka.

Throughout the 1960s and early '70s, Mr. Offen held several positions that raised his profile in Chicago's literary scene, including reviewer and executive editor of Chicago Literary Times, poetry editor of December and Poetry Beat columnist for the Chicago Daily News.

From 1970 to 1977, he was a book reviewer for the Chicago Sun-Times and a drama critic for the weekly newspaper Skyline and worked in the Poets in the Schools program sponsored by the Illinois Arts Council.

His first marriage to Sharon Nealy ended in divorce in 1966, family members said. During his second marriage to actress Rosine Brueckner Franke in the 1970s, Mr. Offen got into the theater scene as a playwright and producer. The couple formed a professional theater company that produced experimental plays and created two theater spaces on the North Side.