David Clewell Explained

David Clewell
Birth Date:	11 February 1955
Birth Place:	New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation:	Poet
Nationality:	American
Education:	Highland Park High School University of Wisconsin–Madison (BA) Washington University in St. Louis (MFA)
Spouse:	Patricia

David Clewell (February 11, 1955 – February 15, 2020)^[1] was an American poet and creative writing instructor at Webster University. From 2010–2012, he served as the Poet Laureate of Missouri.

Life

Clewell was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1955^[2] and attended Highland Park High School, in nearby Highland Park, where he first developed an interest in poetry.^[3] He graduated from University of Wisconsin with a B.A. in English. In 1979, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri and earned an M.F.A. in writing from Washington University in St. Louis. In 1985, Clewell began teaching in the English Department at Webster University.^[4] A year later, he started the Webster University Visiting Writers Series, which he still coordinated until his death.

As an instructor at Webster University, Clewell taught courses on 19th- and 20th-century literature, as well as poetry workshops and seminars. In 2010, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon noted that Clewell "has a unique perspective on contemporary American life and the characters and ideas that loom large in our recent history."

Clewell is the author of 10 poetry collections and his work has appeared in over 50 journals and magazines, including Harper's,^[5] Poetry,^{[6] [7]} The Kenyon Review, The Missouri Review,^[8] The Georgia Review, Ontario Review, New Letters, and Yankee. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for poetry seven times.

He was the poet laureate for the state of Missouri, serving until 2012. He was succeeded by Will Trowbridge.^[9]

He lived in Webster Groves, Missouri with his wife Patricia.^[10]

Awards

• Pollak Poetry Prize for Now We're Getting Somewhere
• Lavan Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets
• 1989 National Poetry Series, for Blessings in Disguise
• 2017 Lifetime Achievement in the Arts from the Webster Groves (MO) Arts Commission^[11]

Works

Poems

• "from Jack Ruby's America", Word Virtual, 1999
• "Not to Mention Love: A Heart for Patricia", Poets.org
• "On the Eve of His Retirement, the Weight-Guesser Goes All Out", Poetry Foundation, March 2000
• "The Accomplice", Counterbalance, April 9, 2007
• "Two Alley Songs for the Vegetable Man: St. Louis, MO", Poetry Foundation, January 1985

Poetry collections

• Book: Room to Breathe. Pentagram Press. 1976. 978-0-915316-30-4 .
• Book: Blessings in Disguise. registration. Penguin Books. 1991. 978-0-14-058672-5 .
• Book: Now We're Getting Somewhere. registration. David Clewell.. University of Wisconsin Press. 1994. 978-0-299-14414-2 .
• Book: The conspiracy quartet. Garlic Press. 1997. 978-0-9643009-2-7 .
• Book: Jack Ruby's America. Garlic Press. 2000. 978-0-9643009-3-4 .
• Book: The Low End of Higher Things. University of Wisconsin Press. 2003. 978-0-299-18574-9 .
• Book: Taken Somehow By Surprise. University of Wisconsin Press. 2011. 978-0-299251-14-7 .

Anthologies

• Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=LOX2CV7-Gv0C&dq=David+Clewell&pg=PA91. Goodbye Note to Debbie Fuller: Pass It On. Simon and Schuster. 1999. 978-0-689-81341-2 . I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You: Paired Poems by Men & Women. Naomi Shihab Nye . Paul B. Janeczko . Paul B. Janeczko .
• Book: Outsiders: poems about rebels, exiles, and renegades. Laure-Anne Bosselaar. Laure-Anne Bosselaar. Milkweed Editions. 1999. 978-1-57131-409-3.
• Book: Poetry 180: a turning back to poetry. Billy Collins. Random House Trade Paperbacks. 2003. 978-0-8129-6887-3.
• Book: New American poets. Jack Elliott Myers. Jack Elliott Myers. Roger Weingarten. David R. Godine Publisher. 2005. 978-1-56792-302-5 .

External links

• "DAVID CLEWELL", Poetry Dispatch, No. 263, December 31, 2008
• "Words That Matter: David Clewell", Playback, Kyle Beachy, 16 December 2005
• "Huetato Warrior", YouTube, David Clewell and Benjamin Clewell, 07 November 2009

Notes and References

1. Web site: Remembering David Clewell: Missouri Poet Laureate and Honored Professor . . February 16, 2020 . Webster University . March 18, 2021 .
2. http://www2.webster.edu/news/clewell2.shtml "David Clewell: Poet Laureate of Missouri"
3. https://geosireads.wordpress.com/2016/10/16/interview-with-former-poet-laureate-of-missouri-david-clewell/ "Interview with Former Poet Laureate of Missouri, David Clewell"
4. http://www.webster.edu/depts/artsci/english/faculty.html#davidbio "Faculty"
5. http://www.harpers.org/subjects/DavidClewell "Clewell, David (1955-)"
6. Table of contents. Poetry Magazine (August 1992).
7. Table of contents. Poetry Magazine (March 2000).
8. http://www.missourireview.com/content/dynamic/author_detail.php?author_id=194 "David Clewell"
9. http://governor.mo.gov/newsroom/2010/David_Clewell "Gov. Nixon appoints David Clewell Poet Laureate of Missouri"
10. http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/article_d193f9a4-ae9c-5213-a818-cca20fe28758.html "About David Clewell"
11. Web site: David Clewell honored for lifetime achievement by Webster Groves Arts Commission. October 16, 2018. October 16, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181016204508/http://news.webster.edu/employee/2017/david-clewell-lifetime-achievement-arts-award.html. dead.