There are no words, no artwork, no performance that could capture all that Dave was—or all that still remained inside him. But he never stopped trying to find new outlets for that seemingly bottomless wellspring of creativity, sharing as much of it with the world as time, money and circumstance would allow, until time and circumstances finally silenced him too soon.
Dave came into my life as a legacy friend. He and my brother, Steve Toth, had been fellow Actualists and lifelong friends, bound together by poetry, humor and an uncommon way of seeing the world. Steve had moved to California many years before, but he introduced me to Dave, who was so much like him. Over the years Dave became my surrogate brother, and my love for him came from that depth.
I had the honor of being Dave’s publishing muse from 2008 through his last book signing in February 2024, but we were really partners in art and creative mischief. Together we published his work and that of other writers through JoMo Publishing and Sackter House Media; brought Poetry Comics and his 100 Poems in 100 Days Poetry Marathon as a living exhibit at the University of Iowa Libraries to the web; shared readings at Prairie Lights; appeared together on Tom Walz’s PATV program; created ObjexArt; and explored every avenue we could imagine, within the limits of time, money, and human capacity, to release as much of the essential Dave into the world as we possibly could.
To be trusted with even a small part of that immense interior world was one of the great privileges of my life. There was always another idea, another poem, another drawing, another wonderfully improbable thing Dave wanted to make real. I knew there would never be enough time for all of it. I just never imagined that time would run out the way it did.
And still, after all those words, poems, drawings, performances, books, objects and ideas, there are no adequate words for the man himself—the kind, gentle, loyal, deep and thoughtful soul who was Dave, burdened and blessed with gifts that seemed without limit.
I mourn my partner in art, my friend, my surrogate brother. I mourn all that was lost with him, including all those things still waiting inside him to be made. But most of all, I mourn Dave.
And I am profoundly grateful that, for those years, I got to be there beside him, creating together.
