Louis Jenkins (poet)

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For persons of a similar name, see Louis Jenkins (disambiguation).
Louis Jenkins
BornLouis Burke Jenkins
(1942-10-28)October 28, 1942
Enid, Oklahoma, U.S.
DiedDecember 21, 2019(2019-12-21) (aged 77)
Bloomington, Minnesota, U.S.
OccupationPoet
Period1970s–2019
GenreProse poetry
Spouse
Sandra Brashear
​
​
(m. 1963; div. 1968)​

Ann Jacobson
​
(m. 1970)​
Children1
Website
louisjenkins.com

Louis Burke Jenkins (October 28, 1942 – December 21, 2019)[1] was an American prose poet. He lived in Duluth, Minnesota, with his wife Ann for over four decades,[2] beginning in 1971.[3] He also lived in Bloomington, Minnesota. His poems have been published in a number of literary magazines and anthologies. Jenkins was a guest on A Prairie Home Companion numerous times[4] and was also featured on The Writer's Almanac [5] and on the Northern Lights TV Series.

Personal life

Louis Burke Jenkins[6] was born October 28, 1942 in Enid, Oklahoma to Burke Jenkins and Genevieve (née Webring).[7][8][1] He attended Wichita State University from 1967 to 1969.[1] Jenkins married Sandra Brashear in 1963, divorcing in 1968, and then married librarian Ann Jacobson in 1970,[1] relocating to Minnesota in 1971. He has a son named Lars.[1]

Jenkins died at his home in Bloomington on December 21, 2019, at age 77.[7]

Literary awards and honors

Louis Jenkins’ book, Nice Fish, was winner of the Minnesota Book Award in 1995,[8] and his book Just Above Water won the Northeastern Minnesota Book Award in 1997. Jenkins was a featured poet at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in 1996 and at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in England in 2007.[2] He was a Bush Foundation Fellow[9] in 1979[10] and 1984.[6] He also was honored with the George Morrison award and Loft-McKnight Fellowship.[9]

Acting and work with Mark Rylance

Actor Mark Rylance recited works by Jenkins[11] in lieu of formal acceptance speeches after winning a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for the play Boeing-Boeing in 2008[12] and after winning his Tony Award for the play Jerusalem in 2011.[13] Rylance then transformed Jenkins’ poetry into the play Nice Fish,[12] and Jenkins played Old Man Winter in a production of that play at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2016.[12] Jenkins also appeared in the minor role of Earl in the 2016 film Blood Stripe and as a therapist in the 1964 film Lilith.[14]

Selected bibliography

Books

  • Where Your House Is Now: New and Selected Prose Poems (Nodin Press, 2019)
  • In the Sun Out of the Wind (Will o' the Wisp Books, 2017)
  • Before You Know It: Prose Poems 1970-2005 (Will o' the Wisp Books, 2009)
  • European Shoes (Will o' the Wisp Books, 2008)
  • North of the Cities (Will o' the Wisp Books, 2007)
  • Four Places on Lake Superior’s North Shore (Red Dragonfly Press, 2005)
  • Distance From the Sun (Minnesota Center for the Book Arts, 2004)
  • Sea Smoke (Holy Cow! Press, 2004)
  • The Winter Road (Holy Cow! Press, 2000)
  • Just Above Water (Holy Cow! Press, 1997)
  • Nice Fish: New and Selected Prose Poems (Holy Cow! Press, 1995)
  • All Tangled Up With the Living (Nineties Press, 1991)
  • An Almost Human Gesture (Eighties Press and Ally Press, 1987)
  • The Water's Easy Reach:Prose Poems (White Pine Press, 1985)
  • The Well Digger's Wife (Minnesota Writer's Publishing House Booklet No. 2, 1973)
  • Will Small: The Journey (White Pine Press, 1987)

Anthologies

  • Good Poems for Hard Times Garrison Keillor, ed. (Viking, 2005)
  • Great American Prose Poems David Lehman, ed. (Scribner, 2003)
  • Poetry 180 Billy Collins, ed. (Random House, 2003)
  • No Boundaries: Prose Poems by 24 American Prose Poets (Tupelo Press, 2003)
  • Are You Experienced? (University of Iowa Press, 2003)
  • Stories From Where We Live (Milkweed Editions, 2003)
  • Good Poems Garrison Keillor, ed. (Viking, 2002)
  • The Thousands, Number One (Thousands Press, 2001)
  • The Best of the Prose Poem (Providence College, Providence, RI, 2000)
  • The Best American Poetry 1999 David Lehman, ed. (Scribner, 1999)
  • Literature and Its Writers (Bedford Books, Boston, 1997)
  • The Plain Truth of Things (Harper Collins, 1997)
  • The Party Train: A Collection North American Prose Poetry (New Rivers Press, 1996)
  • Literature: The Evolving Canon Sven Birkerts, ed. (Allyn and Bacon, 1993)
  • Men of Our Time (University of Georgia Press, 1992)
  • The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart Bly, Hillman and Meade, eds.(Harper Collins, 1992)
  • Reading Rooms (Doubleday,1991)
  • The Best of Crazyhorse (University of Arkansas Press, 1990)
  • Minnesota Writes: Poetry (Milkweed Books, 1987)
  • News of the Universe: Poems of Twofold Consciousness Robert Bly, ed. (Sierra Club Books, 1980)
  • Heartland II: Poets of the Midwest (Northern Illinois University Press, 1975)

Audio recordings

  • Any Way in the World (Thousands Press, 2000)

Plays

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Louis Jenkins 1942". encyclopedia.com. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Author Event Louis Jenkins". Perfect Duluth Day. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  3. ^ "Author Event: Louis Jenkins". KMUD Duluth Public Radio. September 26, 2017. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  4. ^ "Louis Jenkins". The Poetry Foundation. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  5. ^ "Louis Jenkins". The Writer’s Almanac. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  6. ^ a b "Louis Burke Jenkins". Bush Foundation. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  7. ^ a b Miller, Pamela; Hertzel, Laurie (December 21, 2019). "Minnesota master of prose poetry Louis Jenkins dies at 77". Star Tribune. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  8. ^ a b Combs, Mary Ann (May 10, 2010). "Minnesota Poetry: Louis Jenkins The Prose Poem". Minnesota Public Radio News. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  9. ^ a b "Poet Louis Jenkins in Arlington". Bennington Banner. April 17, 2008. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  10. ^ "Louis Burke Jenkins". Bush Foundation. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  11. ^ Staff, Harriet. "Mark Rylance Discusses Minnesota Poet Louis Jenkins's Influence on Nice Fish's Script". The Poetry Foundation. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  12. ^ a b c Zarin, Cynthia (March 1, 2016). "Mark Rylance Talks Poetry and Ice Fishing". The New Yorker. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  13. ^ Healy, Patrick (April 7, 2011). "Mark Rylance on Jerusalem". The New York Times. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  14. ^ "Louis Jenkins". IMDB. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  15. ^ Graydon, Royce (April 11, 2013). "A great British actor returns to his Midwestern roots with "Nice Fish" at the Guthrie". Star Tribune. Retrieved April 11, 2013.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Louis_Jenkins_(poet)&oldid=1112107249"