Walter Bargen (born c. 1945) is an American poet, the first
Poet Laureate of Missouri, a position which he held from February 13, 2008 to January 2010.
Biography
Born to an American father and a German mother, Bargen's childhood was spent traveling back and forth between Germany and the United States. In the early 1950s, he lived and played in the ruins of
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...
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Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
. In the 1960s, he settled in Missouri, working as a construction foreman, writing poetry on the side as a way of exploring the confusion caused by World War II. He wrote his first poem in high school, and has since been published in approximately one hundred magazines. His first book was published in 1980, ''Fields of Thenar''. In the 1990s, he wrote several works about Missouri, such as one volume which focused on the
Missouri River.
Awards
* 1991,
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 ...
poetry fellowship
* 1996, Quarter after Eight Prose Prize
* 1996, Hanks Prize
* 1997, Chester H. Jones Foundation poetry prize
References
Page at Library of Congress*
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External links
* http://www.walterbargen.com/
Living people
1940s births
Year of birth uncertain
Poets Laureate of Missouri
20th-century American poets
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