Howard W. Robertson

Howard W. Robertson

Howard W. Robertson (born September 19, 1947) is an American poet and novelist.

Early life

Robertson was born in Eugene, Oregon.[1] He married Margaret Collins on August 10, 1991 and has two daughters and two sons.[1] He received a B.A. in Russian (1970) and an M.A. in Comparative Literature (1978) from the University of Oregon as well as a Master's in Library Science (1975) from the University of Southern California.[1] Robertson is part-Cherokee.

He was the Slavic Catalog Librarian and Bibliographer at the University of Oregon Library from 1975-1993.[1] He is a past President of the Lane Literary Guild.[1] He has been a full-time poet since 1993.[1] Robertson was a long-haul truck driver in the American West during 1994-1995.[2][3]

Public presence

He is a 2007 Jack Straw Writer with Jack Straw Productions in Seattle, Washington.[4][5] Robertson read his poems at the 2007 Burning Word Festival.[6] Robertson was the Poet-in-Residence at the Henry Art Gallery on the University of Washington campus in Seattle during April 2010.[7] He gave a reading with other Native American authors at Tsunami Books in Eugene, Oregon, during November, 2010.[8]

Eric Alan interviewed Robertson on NPR-Living Large on April 18, 2013.[9] Robertson gave a reading as part of the Third Saturday Reading Series at Tsunami Books in Eugene, Oregon, on April 20, 2013.[10] He was interviewed about his novel, Peculiar Pioneer, on KLCC FM on December 4, 2013 and a recording of this interview is available on the KLCC website.[11] Together with his wife Margaret Robertson, he gave a joint reading about sustainability at Tsunami Books in Eugene, Oregon, on April 5, 2014.[12][13] Robertson read from Peculiar Pioneer at the inaugural reading of the Lane Writers Reading Series in Eugene, Oregon, on September 28, 2014.[14] Robertson read his long, philosophical poem, "Quantum intimations at the grand Multnomah", at the River Road Annex in Eugene, Oregon, on January 25, 2015.[15]

Works

Robertson defines poetry broadly as an inclusive genre, referring to the archaic meaning of "poem": a made thing, ποίημα.[16] He consequently considers each of his poems to be an ode, a fiction, an essay, an abstract painting and a jazz improvisation.[16] He describes his poetry as a mimesis of the streaming of Being through Nonbeing.[16] He intends a continuous poetic flow that pauses but seldom stops, so that his line-breaks become purely visual and do not halt the progress of the poetic line when spoken.[16] He means for his poetry to affirm with Aristotle that truth is most universally told through a blend of fictional and factual material.[16] He conceives each poem as an essay of existential discovery, an enterprising foray into the discursive wilderness.[16] He maintains that his poetry portrays visually the drift and swirl of the things themselves and the interconnected chiaroscuro of shadowy essence and shimmering everydayness.[16] He bases his work on the belief that reality never fails and that the phenomenal revelatory streaming of its representation in his poetry is authentic.[16] He credits Heidegger, Whitman, Pushkin, Bashō, Cervantes, Montaigne and Ovid as his major influences.[16]

His first book of poems was titled to the fierce guard in the Assyrian Saloon in 1987.[17] His second book of poems was titled Ode to certain interstates and Other Poems.[18] His third book of poems was titled The Bricolage of Kotegaeshi.[19] His fourth book of poems, The Gaian Odes, won the Sinclair Poetry Prize.[20][21] His fifth book of poems was Two Odes of Quiddity and Nil.[22] His sixth book of poems was Odes to the Ki of the Universe.[23] His seventh book of poems was The Green Force of Spring.[24] His eighth book of poems was Ode to Certain Interstates.[25] His ninth book of poems was Odes to the Ki of the Universe.[26] His only novel was Peculiar Pioneer.[27] He published a book of stories, Hyperzotica.[28] His tenth book of poems was Hope Speaks.[29]

List of publications

Awards

Robertson's poetry won him the Tor House Robinson Jeffers Prize in 2003,[30] the Elizabeth R. Curry Poetry Prize at Slippery Rock University in 2006,[31] the Sinclair Poetry Prize from Evening Street Press in 2009,[32] and the Atlanta Review's International Merit Award in 2014.[33] He won the Bumbershoot Writers-in-Performance Award in 1993, the Pacifica Award in 1995 and the Literal Latte Award in 1997.[1]

Reviews

References

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