L.S. Asekoff Explained

L.S. Asekoff
Birth Date:	1939 12, mf=yes
Birth Place:	Waltham, Massachusetts, United States
Occupation:	Poet, Professor
Period:	Contemporary
Notableworks:	The Gate of Horn, The Widows of Gravesend
Awards:	Guggenheim Fellowship, Witter Bynner, National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Fund for Poetry, Jerome Shestack Prize
Partner:	Mary Louise Kalin

Louis S. Asekoff (born December 17, 1939) is an American poet and professor emeritus. Asekoff often incorporates surrealist imagery and monologue^[1] into his poetry, which is concerned with both the imagistic and aural dimensions of language. Asekoff's unconventional use of monologue as a poetic instrument is suggestive of "the inability of words to properly convey meaning" and a vehicle for implicating the readers who become "members of his poetic universe."^[2] In 2012, Poet laureate Philip Levine, who selected Asekoff for the Witter Bynner Poetry Prize, described Asekoff as "a true surreal visionary."^[3]

Asekoff taught poetry and coordinated the MFA Poetry Program at Brooklyn College for 42 years, where he also served as a Faculty Associate for The Wolfe Institute for Humanities.^{[4] [5]}

Derek Mahon’s poem “The Snow Party” was dedicated to Asekoff.

Background

Asekoff was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, a small industrial city near Boston. The son of a psychiatrist, he grew up on the grounds of the psychiatric hospitals Danvers State and Metropolitan State Hospital.^[4]

Selected publications

Books

• Dreams of a Work (1994, Orchises Press)
• North Star (1997, Orchises Press)
• The Gate of Horn (2010, Triquarterly)
• Freedom Hill: a poem (2011, Triquarterly).

Selected Poems Online

• Academy of American Poets
• ColdFront Magazine
• Slate
• Boston Review
• The Cortland Review
• The New Yorker
• Poetry
• Penn Sound

Selected awards

• Guggenheim Fellowship, Poetry, 2013^[4]
• Witter Bynner Fellowship, 2012 ^[6]
• Pushcart, 2011 ^[7]
• NEA Literature Fellowship Recipient, 1997 ^[8]
• NYFA Fellowship, Poetry, 1997 ^[9]
• Jerome J. Shestack Poetry Prize, 1993^[10]
• Fund for Poetry^[5]

External links

• Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University: Letters to Louis Asekoff, 1963-1988

Notes and References

1. Kaufman. Ellen. Freedom Hill: A Poem [Review]. Library Journal. 2012. 137. 1. 107.
2. Goykadosh, Bracha. "Freedom Hill." Booklist 108.7 (2011): 10. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 19 Aug. 2015.
3. Web site: Poet Laureate Chooses L.S. Asekoff and Sheila Black for Witter Bynner Award and Reading, April 5. News from the Library of Congress. Library of Congress. 15 July 2015. March 8, 2012.
4. Web site: L.S. Asekoff. Guggenheim Foundation. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 15 July 2015.
5. Web site: Three Brooklyn College English Faculty Win 2013 Guggenheim Fellowships. Brooklyn College News. Brooklyn College. 15 July 2015. April 18, 2013.
6. Web site: Witter Bynner Fellowships. Library of Congress, Poetry and Literature Center. 19 August 2015.
7. News: Kellogg. Carolyn. Some of the Pushcart Winners for 2011. 19 August 2015. LA Times Blog. LA Times. May 12, 2010.
8. Web site: NEA Literature Fellowships: 40 Years of Supporting Writers [pamphlet]]. NEA Office of Communications. 19 August 2015.
9. Web site: Past Fellows. New York Foundation for the Arts. New York Foundation for the Arts. 19 August 2015.
10. The Editors. Jerome J. Shestack Poetry Prizes for 1993. American Poetry Review. 1994. 23. 6. 3–5. 27781614.