Patricia Clark: Poet Of Place & Nature

Patricia Clark, poet of place and nature, is the author of six volumes of poetry, including Sunday Rising, The Canopy and most recently Self Portrait with a Million Dollars. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, Gettysburg Review, Poetry, and Slate, among others. Patricia’s many awards include a Creative Artist Grant in Michigan, the Mississippi Review Prize, the Gwendolyn Brooks Prize, and co-winner of the Lucille Medwick Prize from the Poetry Society of America. The Canopy received the Poetry Society of Virginia’s book award for 2018.

From 2005 to 2007, Patricia served as the poet laureate of Grand Rapids, Michigan. For many years, she was Poet-in-Residence and Professor in the Department of Writing at Grand Valley State University. More recently, she has participated in the Making Waves Initiative, which used poetry and multimedia to explore the Lower Grand River Watershed in Michigan. A native of the Pacific Northwest, Patricia has resided in Michigan for over 30 years. She credits her interest in lyric poetry, including poetry of place, to her teachers Richard Hugo, Madeline DeFrees, and Stanley Plumly.

 Subscribe to Poetry and Planet and never miss another podcast…

Poetry & Planet is produced by Ethan Goffman.  Walt Whitman’s “This Compost” is read by Michael Oliver.  Musical excerpts from “Elements of Life” and “Earth Revisited” are written and performed by Reginald Cyntje, with vocals by Christie Dashiell.  Aural interludes are by Douglas Harvey.

The opening poetry chorus is voiced by Jomo K. Johnson, Dr. Michael Anthony Ingram, Marianne Szlyk, and R. Michael Oliver.