Past state poet laureate, Northwest retired professor encourages young writers

By Jacki Wood

In honor of the Nodaway News Leader’s 12th Annual Youth Poetry Contest, Dr. William Trowbridge, past poet laureate of Missouri and Northwest Missouri State distinguished university professor emeritus, offered some advice to young poets and writers.

“If you enjoy — maybe even love — writing poetry, keep at it,” he said. “But try to develop your writing by reading. My main advice is to read as much good poetry as often as you can. That’s the best way to lean how to write it. Don’t be satisfied with just reading your own poems.”

He also said writing is a journey and you can’t become a good poet overnight or even in a few years.

“It’s a lifelong journey, with plenty of rejections along the way,” he said. “But its rewards far outweigh the setbacks.

“Then again, if you don’t love going on that journey, try to find one you do love.”

Trowbridge taught at Northwest from 1971 to 1998 where he also served as editor of The Laurel Review/GreenTower. He holds a bachelor of arts in philosophy and a masters of art in English from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a PhD in English from Vanderbilt University.

He was appointed Missouri poet laureate by Governor Jay Nixon in 2012 and served until 2016.

“It was certainly an honor and a joy,” he said of his time as poet laureate. “I mainly gave readings and talks at Missouri schools, in an effort to show that poetry can appeal to non-specialists.”

Trowbridge said he began writing later in life than most as it wasn’t until college where he started writing fiction.

“After reading a Howard Nemerov poem, I tried writing a poem,” he said. “After that, I wrote some more. And soon I realized I wanted to be a poet.”

His poems have appeared in more than 50 anthologies and textbooks as well as in periodicals such as Poetry, The Gettysburg Review, Crazyhorse, The Georgia Review, Boulevard, The Southern Review, Columbia, Colorado Review, The Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, Epoch and New Letters.

He has nine full collections of poetry including his newest book, “Call Me Fool,” which was published last September, as well as “Oldguy: Superhero – the Complete Collection,” 2019, “Vanishing Point,” 2017, “Put This On, Please,” 2014, “Ship of Fool,” 2011, “The Complete Book of Kong,” 2003, “Flickers,” 2000, “O Paradise,” 1995, and “Enter Dark Stranger,” 1989.

Trowbridge’s awards include an Academy of American Poets Prize, a Pushcart Prize, a Breadloaf Writers’ Conference scholarship, a Camber Press Poetry Chapbook Award and fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Yaddo and The Anderson Center.

He currently lives in Lee’s Summit and is a mentor for the University of Nebraska – Omaha’s low residency MFA in writing program.

To learn more about his work, visit williamtrowbridge.net.