Henry David Carlile

May 6, 1934-September 2, 2025

Henry David Carlile, 91, of Portland, Oregon, died September 2, 2025, at his Portland home.

Carlile was born in 1934 in San Francisco to Aurelio Antonio Prieto and Grace Edna Harris. He was educated at Grays Harbor Community College and the University of Washington, where he earned an MFA in creative writing, studying with noted poets including Elizabeth Bishop and Theodore Roethke. Carlile was Professor Emeritus of English at Portland State University, where he taught from 1967 until his retirement in 2003. He was a visiting lecturer at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

In his early life, Carlile garnered a wealth of experiences that became lifelong subjects for his poems. He served in the U.S. Army as a trombonist, worked on a salmon trawler, fished for crab off the Washington coast, and clerked for industrial giant Lockheed in Seattle.

Carlile published several poetry collections, including The Rough-Hewn Table, for which he received the Devins Award; Running Lights; Rain, which was shortlisted for the Oregon Book Award; and Oregon. His work appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies, and he received a discovery grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as grants from the Oregon Arts Commission, the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and other funders. His work was published in every major literary journal, including the American Poetry Review, Poetry, Shenandoah, and the Southern Review.

He is survived by Phoebe Carlile, his daughter with first wife Sandra McPherson. McPherson, also a noted American poet, died in 2024. He is also survived by his sister Antoinette Galindo (Bob), numerous other siblings, and sister-in-law Miriam Rowley (Brion). Carlile married former student Genevieve Long (now Walker) in 1995; they divorced in 2016.

In addition to being an accomplished poet, Carlile was a lifelong fisherman and conservationist. He loved the Deschutes, Metolius, and North Umpqua rivers as well as saltwater fishing on the Gulf Coast and ocean fishing off the Oregon coast. He had two beloved Labrador retrievers, Cheever and Carver. In his younger years, he enjoyed camping with Sandy and Phoebe, made several cross-country trips on his BMW motorcycle, and spent time in Sweden. He loved abstract art, fine Scotch whiskey, and Cuban cigars. His lifelong love of wild animals began in childhood with a pet crow and continued as he fed the squirrels and birds in his yard, where mallard ducks occasionally appeared at his door. He will be remembered for his gentle spirit, his deep connection to the natural world, and the quiet kindness he extended to every living creature.

A celebration of life will be held Saturday, January 10, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Eastmoreland Grill, 2425 SE Bybee Boulevard, Portland, Oregon. RSVP to Carlilememorial@gmail.com by December 31, 2025. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Nature Conservancy.