Liner, Amon

Amon George Liner, Jr. (1940-1976), North Carolina poet.

Amon George Liner, Jr., was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1940. Although a congenital heart defect severely limited his physical activities, Liner was active in the intellectual sphere, enjoying moderate popularity among young North Carolina poets in the 1970s.

Except for his undergraduate years at Kenyon College in Ohio (B.A. English, 1963), Liner lived his whole life in central North Carolina. He attended Catawba College, Salisbury, N.C., from 1958 through the fall of 1960, finishing his undergraduate education at Kenyon College, 1961-1963, with a Bachelor's degree in English. His graduate education included an M.A. in Dramatic Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1965 and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1976. While Liner supported himself by working as a cataloger at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill library from 1968 to 1974, he kept active in the North Carolina literary scene by serving as poetry editor for the Red Clay Reader and writing book reviews for the Charlotte Observer .

Liner was a prolific writer of verse, and his poetry appeared in many literary journals. His first major work was Marstower (Red Clay Press, 1972). His second book, Chrome Glass (Carolina Wren Press, 1976), was in publication at the time of his sudden death in July 1976. Rose, A Color of Darkness (Carolina Wren Press, 1980) and the two-volume The Far Journey and Final End of Dr. Faustwitz, Spaceman (Carolina Wren Press, 1983, 1988) appeared posthumously. Chrome Glass and Dr. Faustwitz are written in four-ply form, a verse form of Liner's own creation wherein each ply carries part or an aspect of the total theme [of the poem]. Facing pages (each four plies), or columns are meant to be seen as whole single pages. (Judy Hogan in her introductory remarks to Dr. Faustwitz ).