Park City » A trio of close friends and the partner of late poet Craig Arnold read from his works Wednesday evening in tribute. But the poet himself had the last word, even if it was from a digital recording made prior to his death.

"I will probably cry," said Jennifer Tonge, hostess of the memorial, prior to her own reading. "You should just nod and pretend everything is going swimmingly."

Scott Farley read Arnold's first published poem, followed by a reading from Joel Long, winner of this year's Mayor's Literary Arts Award. Rebecca Lindenberg, Arnold's partner of six years, read from his unpublished poem, "The Singers," about the song of birds leaving, "the trace of a brave thought in the face of sadness."

Organized by Tonge under the auspices of the annual Writers at Work conference, the first public memorial since Arnold's death gave those who knew the 41-year-old poet a chance to exchange stories and recall a great talent cut short.

Close to 40 people attended the event at Spiro Arts central studio.

"If we can learn anything from this event, it's to remember what a damned good poet he was," Long said. "To read his work -- to hear its cadences -- is amazing."

Robert Pinsky, poet laureate of the United States from 1997 to 2000, hailed Arnold as "one of the most gifted and accomplished poets of his generation."

Arnold earned his doctorate in creative writing at the University of Utah. He garnered his first major literary prize, the Yale Younger Poets award, for his 1999 poetry collection, Shells , while living in Salt Lake City and went on to earn a succession of major prizes, including a Fulbright Fellowship.

A U.S.-Japanese Friendship Commission's Creative Artists Exchange Fellowship brought him to Japan this year. Setting out to explore the Japanese island of Kuchino-erabu in April for a book-in-progress about the world's active volcanos, Arnold never returned. An expert search team called off its efforts May 7, concluding that he suffered a leg injury, then fell from a steep cliff to his death soon afterward.

The memorial reading ended with a recorded recitation by Arnold of his poem "Asunder" projected onto a big screen inside the studio. Taken from his last collection of poems, Made Flesh , published early this year, Arnold recited the work with brief, angular movements from his hands, an effect that added visual grace notes to his voice.

Lindenberg said she would read more of Arnold's unpublished work during the Utah Arts Festival, Saturday, 4:30 p.m. at the "Big Mouth" stage near Washington Square in downtown Salt Lake City.

"In his work, he left us a way through," she said.

Writers at Work will also honor the late editor Carol Houck Smith in a memorial celebration from 3 to 4:30 p.m. today, also at Park City's Spiro Arts central studio. Smith, who died last November at age 85, is recognized as an influential figure in the development of the conference, and worked with many figures first discovered there who later went on to literary prominence.