From David Gilmour:

“Very sad news for Thursday, 13th August 2026: Koon Woon, aka Paper Son, departed just after 1:00 pm. Calling the shots himself, accompanied by his loving, comforting family and friends, assisted by his dearest friend and ex-wife, Susan Steiner, all medical service under diligent guidance of hospice workers, Koon chose to drink the thanatotic euthanasia medicine to ease the intolerable pain of living/dying with roaring, aggressive cancers. True to Koon, he cracked a mathematical joke with his last breaths and chuckled contentedly. Smiling, he slipped into his deepest sleep.”

We will honor him at the 10th Cascadia Poetry Festival, on Sunday afternoon, October 11, 2026 at 2pm.

Legendary poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti said of Koon Woon’s Water Chasing Water: “These poems set a thousand horses galloping in the Asian diaspora in which so many are caught.” Koon Woon published my book Haibun de la Serna after I had a brush with death in the International District, a story I hope to tell at CPF10. He was always supportive of my work and from very early respected the depth of my gesture. Celebrations of her life are being planned.

He read for the Head for the Hills online poetry reading on December 10, 2024: