Ralph James Salisbury (January 24, 1926 - October 9, 2017) was an American poet. His poem "In the Children's Museum in Nashville" was published in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' in 1960, making him one of the first self-identified Native American poets to receive national attention. His autobiography ''So Far So Good'' won the 2012 River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize. His book ''Light from a Bullet Hole: Poems New and Selected'' was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 2009.

Early life

Ralph Salisbury was born in 1926 on a farm in Fayette County in northeast Iowa to an Irish American mother and a father he claimed had English, Cherokee, and Shawnee ancestry, who raised him on a farm with no electricity or running water. He survived a lightning strike at the age of 15. A year after graduating from Aurora (Iowa) High School at age 16, he enlisted in the Air Force and was trained as an aerial gunman, completing his training within days of the end of World War Two. The G.I Bill enabled him to enroll in the North Iowa Teachers College and, later, the University of Iowa, where he studied with Robert Lowell and earned a MFA degree. Despite identifying as Native American, Salisbury used the term "Caucasian" to refer to his appearance and was not enrolled with any Native American nation.

Awards

* C.E.S. Wood Retrospective Award (2015) * River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Book Prize (2012) * Rockefeller Bellagio Award in fiction (1992) * Northwest Review Poetry Award * Chapelbrook Award

Bibliography

Autobiography

* ''So Far So Good'',

University of Nebraska Press The University of Nebraska Press, also known as UNP, was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the Unive ...

, 2013
River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize
.

Published poetry collections

* ''Like the Sun in Storm'', Habit of Rainy Nights Press, 2012 (nominated for the Oregon Book Award). * ''Light from a Bullet Hole: Poems New and Selected, 1950-2008'', Silverfish Review Press, 2009 (nominated for the Pulitzer Prize). * ''Blind Pumper at the Well'',

Salt Publishing Salt Publishing is an independent publisher whose origins date back to 1990 when poet John Kinsella launched ''Salt Magazine'' in Western Australia. The journal rapidly developed an international reputation as a leading publisher of new poetry ...

, Cambridge (UK), 2008. * ''War in the Genes'', Cherry Grove Editions, 2005. * ''Rainbows of Stone'',

University of Arizona Press The University of Arizona Press, a publishing house founded in 1959 as a department of the University of Arizona, is a nonprofit publisher of scholarly and regional books. As a delegate of the University of Arizona to the larger world, the Press ...

, September 2000. * ''A White Rainbow, Poems of a Cherokee Heritage'', Blue Cloud Press, 1985. * ''Going to the Water: Poems of a Cherokee Heritage'', Pacific House Books, 1983. * ''Spirit Beast Chant'', Blue Cloud Press, 1982. * ''Pointing at the Rainbow'', Blue Cloud Press, 1982. * ''Ghost Grapefruit and Other Poems'', Ithaca House, 1972.

Prose

* ''The Indian Who Bombed Berlin'', stories, Michigan State University Press, 2009. * ''The Last Rattlesnake Throw'', stories, University of Oklahoma Press, 1998. * ''One Indian and Two Chiefs'', stories, Navajo Community College Press, 1993.

Translations

''Poesie Da Un Retaggio Cherokee'', Multimedia Edizioni, Salerno, Italy 1995, Tr. Prof. Fedora Giordano.

Death

Salisbury died peacefully on October 9, 2017. He was survived by his wife, Ingrid Wendt, and three children: Jeffrey Salisbury, Brian Salisbury, and Martina Salisbury.

References

External links

Ralph Salisbury's website

Ralph Salisbury , Poetry Foundation

2017 deaths 20th-century American poets 21st-century American poets American male poets 20th-century American male writers 1926 births 21st-century American male writers {{US-poet-1920s-stub