Jim Simmerman (March 5, 1952 – June 29, 2006) was a

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

and editor from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

Biography

Simmerman was born in Boulder, Colorado, in 1952. He received his MFA in Poetry from

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 coll ...

in 1980. He was

Regents Professor Distinguished Professor is an academic title given to some top tenured professors in a university, school, or department. Some distinguished professors may have endowed chairs. In the United States Often specific to one institution, titles such ...

of English at

Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public research university based in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was founded in 1899 as the final public university established in the Arizona Territory, 13 years before Arizona was admitted as the 48th state. ...

Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Coconino County in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2019, the city's estimated population was 75,038. Flagstaff's combined metropolitan area has an estimated population ...

, where he led poetry writing workshops and served as an advisor to the literary journal ''Thin Air''. He took his own life on June 29, 2006, in Flagstaff, Arizona after a long illness. His poems have appeared widely in journals (''Antæus, Georgia Review, North American Review, Ploughshares, Poetry''), anthologies (''The Bread Loaf Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry, The POETRY Anthology 1912-2002, Pushcart Prize X: Best of the Small Presses''), and textbooks (''Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing''; ''Thirteen Ways of Looking for a Poem: A Guide to Writing Poetry''; ''Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry''); and his poetry writing exercise "Twenty Little Poetry Projects" generated the anthology ''Mischief, Caprice, & Other Poetic Strategies'' (

Red Hen Press Red Hen Press is an American non-profit press located in Pasadena, California, and specializing in the publication of poetry, literary fiction, and nonfiction. The press is a member of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, and was a final ...

, 2004), edited by

Terry Wolverton Terry Wolverton (born 1954) is an American novelist, memoirist, poet, and editor. Her boo''Insurgent Muse: Life and Art at the Woman's Building'' a memoir published in 2002 by City Lights Books, was named one of the "Best Books of 2002" by the Lo ...

. He is also co-editor, with Joseph Duemer, of ''Dog Music: Poetry about Dogs'' (

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...

, 1996).

Awards

Jim Simmerman was the recipient of fellowships from the

Arizona Commission on the Arts Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Four ...

, the

Bread Loaf Writers' Conference The Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is an author's conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1926, it has been called by ''The New Yorker'' "the oldest and most ...

, the

Port Townsend Writers' Conference The Port Townsend Writers' Conference was founded in 1974 by novelist Bill Ransom. It is held every summer at Fort Worden State Park, within the city limits of Port Townsend, on the inner tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. The confere ...

, the

Fine Arts Work Center The Fine Arts Work Center is a non-profit enterprise devoted to encouraging the growth and development of emerging visual artists and writers through residency programs, to the propagation of aesthetic values and experience, and to the restoratio ...

, the Hawthornden Castle International Retreat for Writers, and the NEA.

Works

* ''Home'' (Dragon Gate, Inc., 1983), chosen by

Raymond Carver Raymond Clevie Carver Jr. (May 25, 1938 – August 2, 1988) was an American short story writer and poet. He contributed to the revitalization of the American short story during the 1980s. Early life Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, a mi ...

as a

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors ar ...

"Writer's Choice" Selection * ''Once Out of Nature'' (The Galileo Press, Ltd., 1989), a "Best of the Small Presses" feature at the

Frankfurt Book Fair The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: Frankfurter Buchmesse, FBM) is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. It is considered to be the most important book fair in the world for internationa ...

* ''Moon Go Away, I Don't Love You No More'' (

Miami U. Press Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, 1994) * ''Kingdom Come'' (Miami U. Press, 1999) * '' American Children'' (

BOA Editions BOA Editions, Ltd. is an American independent, non-profit literary publishing company located in Rochester, New York, founded in 1976 by the late poet, editor and translator, A. Poulin, Jr., and publishing poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. The pre ...

, 2005).

References

External links

The Academy of American Poets
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmerman, Jim American male poets University of Iowa alumni Northern Arizona University faculty People from Flagstaff, Arizona 1952 births 2006 deaths Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni 20th-century American poets 20th-century American male writers Suicides in Arizona