Bruce Bennett is currently Professor and Chair of English and Director of Creative Writing at Wells College.
brbennett@wells.edu
Wells College
Aurora, NY 13026
The following are his publications:
- Books and Chapbooks
- Literary Journals and Magazines
- Anthologies
- Principal Reviews Published
- Principal Reviews Received
- Articles, Essays, and Interviews
- Straw Into Gold (Cleveland State University Press, 1984)
- I Never Danced With Mary Beth (FootHills Press, 1991)
- Taking Off (Orchises Press, 1992)
- Navigating The Distances: Poems New And Selected (Orchises Press, 1999)
- Hey, Diddle Diddle: Fables Of Love And Sex (FootHills Publishing, 2001)
- Funny Signals (FootHills Publishing, 2002)
- The Deserted Campus (Clandestine Press, 2003)
Chapbooks:
- Coyote Pays A Call (Bits Press, 1980)
- The Strange Animal (State Street Press, 1981)
- Not Wanting To Write Like Everyone Else (State Street, 1987)
- To Be A Heron (FootHills Press, 1989)
- The Garden & Other Abridged Versions (Bellflower Press, 1990)
- “Her poetry manuscript... is currently circulating.” (Wells College Press, 1994)
- Bare Bones (Robert L. Barth, 1995)
- It’s Hard To Get The Angle Right (GreenTower Press)
- Forays (Clandestine Press, 1998)
- Maneuvers (Clandestine Press, 1998)
- Garretman (FootHills Press, 1999)
- Ah, Firenze! Clandestine Press, 1999)
- Last Words (Clandestine Press, 2000)
- Separations (Clandestine Press, 2001)
- Bruce Bennett: Greatest Hits 1962-2000 (Pudding House Publications, 2001)
- Were I To Tell You (Wells College Press, 2001)
- Missing (privately printed) (Clandestine Press, 2003)
- Truly Vile (Clandestine Press, 2004)
- Eternal Recurrence And The Big Bang (Clandestine Press, 2004)
- Grief And Love (FootHills, 2004)
- Web-Watching, Bright Hill Press 2004 Prize Chapbook (Bright Hill Press, 2005)
- Late Night Music (Clandestine Press, 2005)
- More Last Words (Clandestine Press, 2005)
- Will Nobody Stop The Poet? (Clandestine Press, 2006)
- Coyote's Interlude With Little Miss Darling (FootHills Publishing, 2006)
- Examined Life (Scienter Press, 2006)
Literary Journals and Magazines
Poems in more than eighty magazines and journals, including Atlanta Review, 5 AM, The Formalist, The Laurel Review, Iambs & Trochees, Light, Measure, The Nation, Ploughshares, Poetry, Poetry Northwest, Prairie Schooner, The Quarterly, River Styx, Seneca Review, Smartish Pace, Rattapallax, Tar River Poetry....
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Anthologies
Poems in more than forty anthologies and textbooks, including An Introduction To Poetry (ed. X.J. Kennedy), Anthology Of New American Verse, Introduction To Literature (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.), Literature: The Human Experience (Bedford/St.Martin’s), The Muse Strikes Back, The Poets’ Grimm, Rhythm Road, State Street Reader, Voices In The Gallery: Writers On Art, Writing Poems (ed. Robert Wallace)....
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Principal Reviews Published
Cora Fry by Rosellen Brown, The American Book Review, Summer 1978
The Knife And Other Poems by Richard Tillinghast, In Winter by Michael Ryan, Work, For The Night Is Coming by Jared Carter, The New York Times Book Review, May 10, 1981
Hundreds Of Fireflies by Brad Leithauser, Globe by Elizabeth Spires, Antarctic Traveller by Katha Pollitt, Green Soldiers by John Bensko, The New York Times Book Review, March 14, 1982
Household Tales Of Moon And Water by Nancy Willard, Austerities by Charles Simic, The Nation, March 12, 1983
On Tour With Rita by Nicholas Christopher, Visiting Rites by Phyllis Janowitz, The Nation, March 26, 1983
American Primitive by Mary Oliver, Riding To Greylock by Stephen Sandy, The Forces of Plenty by Ellen Bryant Voigt, The New York Times Book Review, July 17, 1983
The Gavin Ewart Show by Gavin Ewart, The Young Pobble's Guide To His Toes by Gavin Ewart, The New York Times Book Review, August 17, 1986
The Outskirts Of Troy by Carl Dennis, The Imperfect Paradise by Linda Pastan, Tango by Daniel Halpern, The New York Times Book Review, September 18, 1988
Sullen Weedy Lakes by William Logan, Town Life by Jay Parini, Blood Pressure by Sandra M. Gilbert, The New York Times Book Review, March 12, 1989
Quilting by Lucille Clifton, Hill Daughter by Louise McNeill, The New York Times Book Review, March 1,1992
Meetings With Time by Carl Dennis, Harvard Review, Spring 1992
Cave Dwellers by A. Poulin, Jr., Tar River Poetry, Spring 1992
Dark Horses by X.J. Kennedy, Harvard Review, Winter 1992
C by Fred Chappell, Harvard Review, Fall 1993
A Limerick’s Always A Verse by Laurence Perrine, LIGHT, Winter 1993
Each In Its Season by W. D. Snodgrass, Crossroads by David R. Slavitt, Red Trousseau by Carol Muske, The New York Times Book Review, April 17, 1994
85 Poems by Gavin Ewart, LIGHT, Summer 1994
There You Are by Louis Simpson, Harvard Review, Fall 1995
Home Ground by Tim Gavin, VERSE, April/May 1996
The Muse Strikes Back, Katherine McAlpine and Gail White, LIGHT, Spring 1998
Erasable Walls, Lance Larsen, Harvard Review, Fall 1998
Cairo Traffic by Lloyd Schwartz, HARVARD REVIEW, Spring 2001
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Principal Reviews Received
Taking Off reviewed by David Daniel in Harvard Review, Spring 1992
Taking Off reviewed by Richard Simpson in Tar River Poetry, Spring 1993
Taking Off reviewed by David Starkey in Light, Summer 1993
Taking Off reviewed by Tom Hansen in The Literary Review, Winter 1995, Vol. 38, No. 2
“Bruce Bennett: In Tribute” by X. J. Kennedy in Light, Autumn/Winter, 1995-1996
It’s Hard To Get The Angle Right, by Robert Darling in Expansive Poetry & Online Poetry Review, Issue 13, August 1997
It’s Hard To Get The Angle Right by Richard Moore in LIGHT, Summer 1997
It’s Hard To Get The Angle Right, Harvard Review, Spring 1998
Navigating The Distances, BOOKLIST, September 1999 (starred review)
Feature article, “Better Verse,” by Bridget Meeds in ITHACA TIMES, January 19th, 2000
Navigating The Distances reviewed in the Spring 2000 issue of HARVARD REVIEW
Navigating The Distances reviewed by Fred Chappell in Tar River Poetry, Spring 2000
Featured Poet for book Navigating The Distances and poem “In A Time Of War” on POETRY DAILY, September 28th, 2000
Navigating The Distances reviewed by Richard Moore in Edge City Review, October 2000
Last Words reviewed by John Mella in Light, Winter 2000/2001
Navigating The Distances reviewed by Richard Wakefield in Light, Summer 2001
Navigating The Distances reviewed on-line poetry journal, Able Muse
Funny Signals reviewed by Richard Wakefield in Light, Autumn 2003
Essays by X. J. Kennedy, Christina Pugh, Leslie Norris, Stan Sanvel Rubin, David Berman, and Dennis Leavens (2) in PAINTBRUSH, “The World Of Bruce Bennett,” Volume XXX, 2003/2004
Grief And Love reviewed by Deirdre Neilen in TAR RIVER POETRY, Fall 2005
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Articles, Essays, and Interviews
"At the Border": A CONVERSATION WITH BRUCE BENNETT, based on 1984 Brockport Writers Forum Interview, was published in The Post-Confessionals: Conversations with American Poets of the Eighties, eds. Earl G. Ingersoll, Judith Kitchen, Stan Sanvel Rubin (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1989)
Videotaped Interview with Gavin Ewart (with Professor Stan Rubin) for Brockport Writers Forum, October 1988; published in LIGHT, Summer 1992
Videotaped Interview with Leslie Norris (with Professor Stan Rubin) for Brockport Writers Forum, October 1991; published as ‘A Sound Like a Clear Gong’ in An Open World: Essays on Leslie Norris (edited by Eugene English and Peter Makuck, Camden House 1993)
“A Sound Like a Clear Gong”, Tar River Poetry, Fall 1993
“Intimations of Mortality: ‘A Flight of Geese’”, An Open World: Essays On Leslie Norris
Essay on Gavin Ewart for Encyclopedia Of British Humorists, ed. Steven H. Gale, Garland 1996
"The Scrimmage That Goes On And On,” Episcopal Academy Alumni Magazine, Summer 1992
“Little Red Rides The Hood: Teaching Pre-service Teachers How To Use Children’s Literature By Writing It,” (with Professor Bird Stasz), Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, May 1997
“X. J. Kennedy’s Poetry For Children: A User’s Guide,” Paintbrush, Autumn 1998
“In Remembrance,” a tribute to Robert Wallace, Light, Autumn 1999
“Not Philosophers or Angels: An Appreciation of Gail White,” Light, Winter 1999
“Introducing Ruth Stone: A Personal Anthology” Paintbrush, VOLUME XXVII, 2000/2001
“A Limpid Medium: The Poetry of David Mason,” LIGHT, Autumn 2002
Essay/Interview, “Gavin Ewart and Civil Humor: An Interview with Stephen W. Delchamps,” LIGHT, Winter 2002-3
One hour interview with Bruce Bennett conducted by Tom Milligan, “Off The Page,” WSKG Binghamton Public Radio, September 21st, 2004
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Other Professional Activities
PERFORMANCES AND READINGS
More than thirty performances throughout New York State and in several other states between 1980-85 as a member of "Three For All", a poetry/music/dance performance trioOTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Innumerable readings at colleges and universities, schools, libraries, literary societies, art galleries, coffee houses, festivals, community events, etc.
Co-founded and served as an editor of Field: Contemporary Poetry and Poetics and PloughsharesTop
Associate Editor at State Street Press (1981-1996)
Served as a member of the Literature Panel, New York State Council on the Arts, 1983-86
Served on New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Panel, 1992-95
Grants received for the Wells College Visiting Writers Series from the National Endowment for the Arts (1982-5), Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writing Fellows Residency (1992-94), and the Literature Program of the New York State Council on the Arts (1987-present)
Recipient of 1990 Sears Roebuck Foundation "Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award"
Co-founder and Director (1993-2002) of the Wells College Book Arts Center; Director (1993-2002) of Wells College Press
Residencies at the Chautauqua Institution for the Writers Center (Summers 1994, 1995, 1998, 2004): week-long poetry workshops; lectures and “brown bag discussions” about such topics as the writing of fables, the creative process, writing in form, light verse….
Courses regularly taught at Wells College:Major American Poets of the Twentieth Century, Contemporary American Poetry, British Romantic Poetry, British Victorian Poetry, Twentieth-Century British Poetry, Short Story Writing, Poetry Writing, Advanced Poetry Writing, Creative Non-Fiction, The Maker’s Craft (form in poetry)
