Poet, Teacher, Writer, Editor
Welcome to my web site. In various capacities, I'm a poet, teacher, writer, and editor based in western Wisconsin near the Twin Cities. My work is strongly rooted here, so in my poems you'll meet some of the people, animals, birds, flowers, and trees I encounter day to day, not least the wonderfully named kinnickinnic, or red osier dogwood or red willow, so plentiful in these parts. I like the symbolism of kinnickinnic, so ready to root from a cutting that the Indians saw it as an emblem of resurrection.
I've kept this site simple for easy navigation. "About" will fill you in on a little biographical background. "Poems" showcases a few poems with which I've been particularly happy over the years. I'm using the "Blog" section to air occasional essays on literature, culture, and current affairs. "Publications" provides a brief bibliography of my published work. "Contact" tells you how to get in touch with me. (I always welcome comments by readers, not to mention invitations to read or teach.) And this home page does double duty as a calendar for upcoming events. I hope you'll have as enjoyable a time glancing around this site as I've had putting it together.
CALENDAR
Upcoming Readings and Appearances:
Monday, April 22, 7 p.m. Earth Day Poetry Reading, The Awareness Project, 208 South Main (lower level), River Falls, WI. With Maureen Ash, Freya Manfred, and Timothy Young. Free.
Summer 2013 Class at the Loft Literary Center:
(Open to all levels)
Summer, with its everyday access to outdoors, is an ideal time of year to write about nature up close. One need only take a 15-minute walk to observe fresh subject matter in an ever-changing landscape. This class invites a delighted and thoughtful immersion in poems inspired by the diverse living things with which we share the planet. Beginning with a brief overview of the development of the modern nature poem, we'll devote entire class meetings to the enjoyment and discussion of poems about birds, beasts, flowers, trees, and the inanimate world. We'll borrow some ideas from the British "ecopoetics" scholar Jonathan Bate's The Song of the Earth, and master poets such as Issa, John Clare, Mary Oliver, D. H. Lawrence and Francis Ponge will pleasurably inform our wanderings over the literary landscape of the nature poem. We'll also survey some of the rich tradition of nature writing in our own region. Writing exercises designed to bring the natural world onto the page will be offered in each class session. Small copy fee.
Mondays, 6-8 p.m., June 17 - August 12 (no class July 1). Contact 612/379-8999 or www.loft.org.
Birds, Beasts, Flowers, and Trees: Summer Nature Poetry (8 weeks)
(Open to all levels)
Summer, with its everyday access to outdoors, is an ideal time of year to write about nature up close. One need only take a 15-minute walk to observe fresh subject matter in an ever-changing landscape. This class invites a delighted and thoughtful immersion in poems inspired by the diverse living things with which we share the planet. Beginning with a brief overview of the development of the modern nature poem, we'll devote entire class meetings to the enjoyment and discussion of poems about birds, beasts, flowers, trees, and the inanimate world. We'll borrow some ideas from the British "ecopoetics" scholar Jonathan Bate's The Song of the Earth, and master poets such as Issa, John Clare, Mary Oliver, D. H. Lawrence and Francis Ponge will pleasurably inform our wanderings over the literary landscape of the nature poem. We'll also survey some of the rich tradition of nature writing in our own region. Writing exercises designed to bring the natural world onto the page will be offered in each class session. Small copy fee.
Mondays, 6-8 p.m., June 17 - August 12 (no class July 1). Contact 612/379-8999 or www.loft.org.
Recent Publications
Robert Bly in This World, which I edited with the help of James P. Lenfestey, is available from the University of Minnesota Libraries. It has many wonderful essays on Bly's work by Coleman Barks, Howard Nelson, Mark Gustafson, Gioia Timpanelli, Leonard Lewisohn and others. Mike Hazard's groundbreaking documentary, A Man Writes to a Part of Himself, is also included in this package.
Robert Bly in This World, which I edited with the help of James P. Lenfestey, is available from the University of Minnesota Libraries. It has many wonderful essays on Bly's work by Coleman Barks, Howard Nelson, Mark Gustafson, Gioia Timpanelli, Leonard Lewisohn and others. Mike Hazard's groundbreaking documentary, A Man Writes to a Part of Himself, is also included in this package.
AIRMAIL Is Out!
Airmail: The Letters of Robert Bly and Tomas Tranströmer is now available from Graywolf Press. For a report on the official launch held at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis on Tuesday, April 2, see Minneapolis Star Tribune book review editor Laurie Hertzel's blog at
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/blogs/201172041.html
For a perceptive reviewer's take on the book, see Alice Gregory's review for The New Republic at
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112789/airmail-and-here-and-now-reviewed-alice-gregory
Watch this space for news of future reviews and events.
Airmail: The Letters of Robert Bly and Tomas Tranströmer is now available from Graywolf Press. For a report on the official launch held at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis on Tuesday, April 2, see Minneapolis Star Tribune book review editor Laurie Hertzel's blog at
http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/blogs/201172041.html
For a perceptive reviewer's take on the book, see Alice Gregory's review for The New Republic at
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112789/airmail-and-here-and-now-reviewed-alice-gregory
Watch this space for news of future reviews and events.