Dennis Schmitz (August 11, 1937 – September 12, 2019) was an American

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 writte ...

Life

Dennis Schmitz grew up in

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Il ...

. He graduated from

Loras College Loras College is a private Catholic college in Dubuque, Iowa. It has an enrollment of approximately 1,600 students and is the oldest post-secondary institution in the state of Iowa. The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degree pr ...

and the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, where he met and married Loretta

D'Agostino The D'Agostino family is a Sicilian noble lineage originated at least in the thirteenth century, Sicilian strain of historical noble family Agostini Fantini Venerosi Della Seta Gaetani Bocca Grassi from Pisa, family of noble origin, Earls of ...

in 1960; they have five children together. He has taught at

Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...

University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wiscons ...

and

California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...

. His former students include

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 ...

, Charlene Ungstad, Gary Short, and Gary Thompson.Sklenicka, Carol. ''Raymond Carver: A Writer's Life.'' New York: Scribner, 2009 He opposes the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

and protests executions in California every time they take place. His work has appeared in the ''Alaska Quarterly Review'', ''American Poetry Review'', ''The Nation'', ''Paris Review'', the ''Chicago Review'', and ''Zyzzyva''. He resided in Sacramento.

Awards

* 2000–2002 Poet Laureate of

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

* 1987–1988

Shelley Memorial Award The Shelley Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America, was established by the will of Mary P. Sears, and named after the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. The prize is given to a living American poet selected with reference to genius and need, and is ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

* 1976–1977, 1985–1986, 1992–1993 Fellow,

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

Works

Poetry

* ''Animism'' (Oberlin College Press, 2014) * ''The Truth Squad'' (Copper Canyon Press, 2002) * ''About Night: Selected and New Poems'' (Oberlin College Press, 1993) * ''Eden'' (University of Illinois Press, 1989) * ''Singing'' (Ecco Press, 1985) * ''String'' (Ecco Press, 1980) * ''Goodwill, Inc'' (1976) * ''Double Exposures'' (1971) * ''We Weep for Our Strangeness'' (1969)

Editor

References

External links

* Bull, Catherine
"Dennis Schmitz's 'The California Phrasebook'"
* Eskimo Pie Girl (Rebecca Morrison)

* Sacramento Poetry Center

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmitz, Dennis Poets from California Poets from Iowa American male poets Loras College alumni University of Chicago alumni Illinois Institute of Technology faculty University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee faculty California State University, Sacramento faculty Writers from Dubuque, Iowa 1937 births 2019 deaths