Robert Schuler, Ph.D.
Professor
Office: Room 153-D Harvey Hall Telephone: 715.232.1454 E-mail: schulerr@uwstout.edu Fax: 715.232.2093dance into heaven was published by Juniper Press in March, 2005. See reviews by Michael Kreisel and Tom Montag below.
An earlier collection of poems, reviewed below, in search of "Green Dolphin Street" can be ordered from Robert Schuler at schulerr@uwstout.edu or at E4549 479th
for Charles P. Ries' review of my latest collection of poems in search of "Green Dolphin Street" see http://www.circlemagazine.com/issuethirty/insearch.html
in search of ìGreen Dolphin Streetî
By Robert Schuler
38 poems / 35 pages
$8.00
Marsh River Editions
M233 Marsh Road
Marshfield, WI 54449
Review By: Charles P. Ries
Word Count = 602
In in search of ìGreen Dolphin Street,î Robert Schulerís eleventh book of poetry, we find a seasoned artist painting with an effortless hand. His images are numinous and moving as in ìA Take of Miles Davisí Flamenco Sketchesî: ìwhat are we doing down here / whirling under the moon / spinning round the afterglow / of the sun / lost in space / how fragile we are / how long we can sing,î or in ìThere is This Language Musicî: ìflame-red and wine-scarlet maples / rose / a womanís body her breasts her nest / in the ultimate / truth / the reason / you are here / become / closer to the music / the world / the art / storms gone / the cool air swirling / round your reddened skin / I caress the being / I hold in my hands.î His poems are meditations of the moment. They reflect the sights, smells and sounds that surround him. They are all influenced by a musician Schuler reverences, the late great jazz musician Bill Evans.
Schuler, who teaches film, American Literature, and writing at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, describes his book of poetry as ìa suite of poems in praise of Bill Evans.î His homage to Evans is felt in almost every poem, including this one in which the opening line is also the title, ìall poems are love poems / written to the things that will never happen again / never dance in the wind again / like Bill Evans playing ìGreen Dolphin Streetî / rain playing against our windows / our bodies lost in love / a thousand times.î Indeed, Schuler is a love poet. And again in ìWhat is Art?î: ìrain taps and hisses all evening / across the leaves / after midnight bone-white rain drones / hard against the windows and walls / while I listen again and again / to Bill Evans playing / ëGloriaís Stepí / a slow pure dance of grace.î
As I drifted into Schulerís poetry I sometimes felt I was getting only half his message, half his meanings, because I was not listening to Bill Evans. I only know that Evans is a great jazz artist in a class with Stan Getz, Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderly. But I have not listened to Evansí music. (Now, I want to.) Schuler mentions Evansí name in either titles or narratives no less than ten times over the course of his 35-page homage to his beloved jazz artist. I began to feel that without having listened to Evans I was experiencing a metaphor Iíd never met.
I particularly liked Schulerís short poems. Here are two whose titles are also their opening lines: ìlight falling on the ferns / the Canada thistles springing / fuchsia from the shadowsî and ìfog silking / through the black / arabesques of oaks.î
Schuler dedicates this book to his wife, Carol, and writes ìLove Poemî in her honor: ìdamn Iím always riding out / round the room / out the windows / into the cold Wisconsin air / witched with owls / nobody knows the blues / the just / right / notes / I want to play / a few for you.î Indeed, above all, I feel Robert Schuler is a love poet. A lover of music, a lover of the silences found in the north woods and, of course, a lover of the music of Bill Evans.
Schuler is the fifth poet to publish his work under the careful hand of Linda Aschbrenner and her growing Marsh River Editions. One can see in each of her publications an editor and publisher who loves poetry and takes great care in how it is presented. When not publishing books of poetry, Linda is the editor of the monthly poetry magazine titled Free Verse. Writers and readers can find her at geocities.com/wordzoo.
Michael Kriesel's review:
Lit from within by a wistful affection, these are "love poems / written to things that will never happen again."
Schuler's writing has a fluid quality, inspired by Bill Evans' jazz. He offers up many fine lines--"how fragile we are / how long we can sing."
The chapbook's wonderfully produced, with a wrap-around dust jacket made of card stock. It's the fifth one so far from Marsh River Editions, which also produces an excellent poetry magazine called Free Verse.
Barbara Fitz Vroman's review:
We are told that a certain percentage of our populace is wired differently than the rest of us. When they hear music they also see color. Indeed each word has a color and for some a taste. Doctors say the phenomenon is caused by a lack of the normal divisions between their sensory perceptions. Others say that these individuals are forerunners of what will someday be possible for the whole race.
Robert Schuler gives us a sense of what this is like in his book of poetry, in search of "Green Dolphin Street." His poems link the beauty of nature that he encounters each day as he walks his familiar street with the ecstasy of the music that he listens to and loves (mostly jazz). Bill Evans playing Gloria's Steps becomes entwined with "the hothouse heat of ...early August...the plush lilies...the long ferns." Miles Davis' Flamenco Sketches elicits "all the shades of blue in the June garden...silver-blue wild phlox...velvet purple of the wild geraniums...true blue of harebells and bluebells..."
He has yet a third leg to his stool, enmeshed with the music and the awe inspiring beauty of nature, is a celebration of his love for his wife. Someone once wrote that "the worst marriage is richer than the most torrid love affair." There is a great deal of truth to this but the passion embedded in married love is difficult to reproduce in literature. On the page it always seems duller and quieter than the flamboyance of first love, or the flames of adultery--there is always a whiff of having to take the cat out or talk about insurance.
Schuler accomplishes that difficult task. His odes to his wife are as full of rhapsody as a young boy first smitten with cupid's arrow... "your rose-pink skin...your lovely / shy eyes / deeper than truth." "I cannot sleep for the ache of my love for you...forever needing you." ...yet go beyond that to the depth that only mature love can have, "I will tell you / again and again / how much I love you / and wish this were enough...you are my garden."
Robert Schuler is a man susceptible to rapture. He takes our hand and tries to share it with us in this book of poetry.
--
In June, 2004 Hummingbird printed a gift bookmark of my poem "a tryptych for May."
"Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man" was chosen for the 25th Anniversary edition of Kaleidoscope. It appears on their website.
Invited to make a presentation on Gary Snyder's Mountains and Rivers Without End at the American Literature Association meeting, Cambridge, MA, May 21-25, 2003.
A poem, "a take of Miles Davis' Flamenco Sketches" has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. My poem, "Miles Davis' 'Mystery,'" was also nominated for Pushcart Prize XXVIII. The nomination was submitted by the editors of Ekphrasis, in which the poem first appeared.
Sara Glick, a Tacoma, WA composer, is using my poem "Winter Ikon VII" in a song cycle to be performed by the Pacific Lutheran University chamber choir.
Poems
These poems have appeared or will appear in the following periodicals:
Abbey: "A Mahler April" and "Koan."
Abraxas : "Mappemonde," "Planting," and "Winter Light."
Abraxas/Chowder Review: "On the Conversion of the Indians, circa 1721."
Alt.Lit: ìMarch 14thî
American Goat: "She skis hours."
Angel Face: "after Amir Khusro;" ""I am smoke;" "when your body shines;" "when I see you;" "you are fire;" "how gracious."
Applecart: "Gathering Moon Salt" and "Winter Count."
Arachne Inc.: "Driving Across Southwestern Minnesota."
Architrave: ìMatisseís ëDishes and Fruitíî and ìMonetís ëWheatstack,' 1891.î
Baybury Review : ìdriving through the nightî and ìMind-fullness, early October.î "driving through the night" also appears on the Baybury Review.
Blackberry: "The Way the World is #12 (sleet storm)."
Blueline : ìJuly Landscape;î ìCovert;î ìMay Inventory, the Red Cedar River;î "6:55 PM, June 23rd;" "skiing below zero: afternoon raga; "spring March 21;st "rain, late April;" "October 24;" "near Drummond;" "late March."
The Burning Cloud Review: ìMonetís ëPoplars.íî
Caliban: "Be-Bopping It Out" and ìWinter Blues: for Pink Floyd."
California Quarterly: "flamenco dancer."
The Cat and the Moon: "Heat;" ìmink;î and ìPainting an Old House.î
Coal City Review: "The Ides of April;" "late summer; ìChicago, Hyde Park, Midnight" (reprint); "hawk;" ìTrempealeau Refuge, Mayî and ìthe great blue heron.î
Color Wheel: ìpoem for Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan;î ìmaking firewood;î ìThe Middle of April;î ìGuitar-time;î and ìSpring: for the Master of the Eastern Cliffs.î
Common Ground Review: "making Ikons, late fall and early winter."
Cream City Review: ìZimmermanís Pool.î
Curbside Review: "if you ever thinkÖ."
Dacotah Territory: "Old Testament" and "Helixes."
Ekphrasis: ìWinter, 1886-1996;î ìPissarroís ëChataigniers a Louveciennes;íî ìpoem on a painting by Gustave Caillebote;î ìVan Goghís ëLandscape with Snow;íî ìKrishna Adorning Radhaís Breast;î ìDanae;î "Van Gogh's Blues: 'Street Scene in Montmartre: Le Moulin a Poivre;'" Miles Davis" Mystery;" "after the raid;" "Egon Schiele's "Reclining Nude with Legs Spread Apart;" "Musique Russe;" "Dirk Bouts' 'The Justice of Otto, the Ordeal by Fire;'" "Venus, a satyr and cupids, 1588, Firenze, the Uffizi;" "Bonnard's 'La salle a manger a la campagne;'" " J.M.W. Turner, 'Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight;'" "William Blake, 'The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in the Sun;'" "Bonnard's 'La fenetre,' 1925;" "Rogier van der Weyden, Descent from the Cross;" "a short meditation on despair, Hugo van der Goes, "The Lamentation;" "Georges Rouault, "Spring." "long after midnight, a design a la Chagall;" "Vanity, Vanitas."
En Passant: ìLetter from Minnesota.î
Epicenter: "Sufi Music."
Eratica: ìMiles and Coltrane, ëLive in Stockholmíî and ìOctober Triptych.î
Eye-Rhyme: "A History of Oranges" and "Matisse's Odalisques."
Farmlit. "rain, late April"
Foliage : ìNisqually Glacier, Mount Rainier, July 31st.î
Free Verse: ìcross country skiing, early spring;î ìCharlie Parkerís ëNowís The Time;íî ìRiffs;î ìMonetís 'Poppy Field in a Hollow near Giverny;íî ìAugust Harvest;î ìCharlie Parkerís ëRed Cross;íî ìThere is no other worldî (Paul Desmondís "Tangerine.î); "sing oh sing;" "Poetry;" "What is art?" "you are my garden;" "there is no greater gift;" "I want to give you love;" "you see yourself as a mad artist;" "my forever lover;" "medieval;" "February thaw;" "ice-storm;" "Blues #39;" "Things to Come;" "listening to Mambos, floating out of May;" "sunset, mid-November;""October 6th;" "late winter;" "blues time;" "early June;" "Bonnard's 'Street Scene, Place Clichy;'" "return of the swans;" "fog silking;" "late December;" "a poem of soft spring rain;" "paradeizo;" "sunset, December 9th;" "August sunset;" "listening to Stan Getz play 'Early Autumn,' 1976;" "I want to carve love;" ""August after Monet;" "bebop all day;" "hard April Rain;" "Piano, for McCoy Tyner;" "bebopping it out; "Miles Davis' In a Silent Way;" "How Do You Measure for True?" "for Pierre Bonnard and Bob Dylan;" "Thaw, 2004, Stanton Township;" "Miles Davis, Frelon brun;" "Blues for Spring;" "this morning;" "alla prima, winter hawks;" "Easter;" "February 5th;" "after the eclipse, November 2003;" "Jazz I;" "late December;" "late October;" "October 19th;" "reposado;" "Indiana, fall;" "5 AM, Illinois;" "October 15th;" "America, 2004;" "October 22nd;" "we want too much;" "auteur;" "why write;" "caught in the copper;" December 9th;" "taking off from two Aragon's poems and one of Apollinaire's;" "January 9th;" "floods, January 7th;" "this is grace;" "the Book of Jeweled Visions;' "the mind alone;' "March 10th;" "Alice in Chains;" "why do we try to be monumental;" "il y a;" "May 2nd;" "June 1st;" "went down the wrong road;" "snowstorm;" "report from the interior, February 24th;" "buttercups and the lilaced winds;" "a dozen eagles."
Giants Play Well in the Drizzle: "Spring."
The Great Circumpolar Bear Cult: "Fall" and "Takahashi's ëOne-Hundred Billionth of a Second.í"
Green Fuse: "April 10."
Heron Dance: "Spring Solstice;" "May 13;" "Eagles in the rain;" ìWinter Ikon VII;î ìAt Reads Landing, MN, late February;î "I am having trouble walking." (All poems accompanied by watercolor illustrations).
The Higginsville Reader: ìearly May.î
High/Coo: "Cream peonies;" "Old Lady;" "Spring Thaw;" "After an Icestorm" and "Bald Eagles."
Hollow Spring Review: "Winter Love Poem #1."
The Howling Mantra: "August Anniversary Poem;" "The Biology of Moods;" "Spring Rain in Perpignan;" "Storm Song;" "Listening to Ira Sullivan...;" "One more for the Lady;" "State of the Union" and "the monk sees."
Hummingbird: "For Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers" (reprint); "December 1;" "Ravel's 'Sonata for Violin and Piano;'" "nothing is left;" "Winter Poetics for Jacques Maritain;" "What's the Magic?" "she scoops fingers deep...; "within a poem;" "Santa Barbara, February 7th;" "there's nothing;" "Bewitched;" "first snow;" "high noon;" "tundra swans III;" "hawk rocks;" "in the springs;""Chinese Landscape in Wisconsin;" ìthe art of poetry;î ìon the American ëneedí for recreation;î "spring;î ìPhoebis;î ìthe place of mosquitoes within creation;î ìart for artís sake: listening to Bach;î "the structure of Sonny Rollins' 'The Bridge;'" "the structure of the ruffed grouse in darkness;" "making ikons;î "early April;" ìsummer poem;î ìlove poem;" ìforgive me;î "August Song for Miles Davis;" "you write what you can;" "walking, late August;" "ikons for late fall;" "when ice holds the hawks down;" "Clarice;" "the real/music is the blues;" "approaching sunset, late February" "on the influence of Chinese poetry;" "April noon, near Rice Lake;" "this world is a fool's world;" "a triptych for May" (bookmark); "November in the garden;" "El mambo ultimo II;" "early July;" "Persian love poem;" "jazz III;" "Ikon at twilight."
Indefinite Space : "April Diary" and "April is."
Journeys: "October 16, 1990."
Lake Street Review: "Fantasia for Rain and Guitar" and "Poem for Jackie McLean."
Longhouse: "Blues for Wisconsin" and "For Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers."
McLean County Poetry Review: "The Way the World Is #47 (Summer Fog)" and "The Way the World Is #93 (early Spring)."
Manna: "September 2."
Manzanita: ìSpring walks.î
Mati: untitled
Mid-America Review: "Mist in December" and "light falling on the ferns."
Mississippi Valley Review: "August: Walking the Silence of Vimalakirti;" "Bob Marley's Poem;" "Driving Home: Easter Sunday;" "Late August;" "Prologomena to the Study of Any Plains Religion;" "Rain Song;" "Spring Dawn;" and "Summer Solstice."
Nebraska English Journal: "Ice Storm;" "This Tree of Lights;" and "Prayer."
New Stone Circle: ìRed Cedar Lake, October.î
North Coast Review: "forty turkey vultures;" "July First;" ìKiting #1;î ìfar north, February Journal;î and ìFishing, early June.î
The Mochila Review: ìVan Gogh, Fall, 1888.î
North Country Anvil: "The Way the World Is #17 (autumn);î "The Way the World Is #8 (late spring)" and ìThe Way the World Is #96 (Autumn Maples).î
Northeast: "for Raymond Roseliep;" "black cows;" "steam/pouring from the still;" "pines sift rain;" "Easter Morning;" "Gacela for a late May:" "splitting wood;" "Tulips ringing;" "Head of a girl with turban;" "Vermeer's World;" "Winter Poetics: for William Witherup;" "March;î "slingshot bat rockets;" îMay 11: spring comes to western Wisconsin;î ìthis floating world;î "Spring 97;" ìstop-time;î ìearly thaw.î
The North Stone Review: "Poem for Jody B;" "Art Nouveau;" "Ikon: photograph;" "Homage to Romare Bearden's 'Early Carolina Morning;'" "Paradiso: Peter de Hooch, 'A Courtyard in Delft with Woman and Child'" and "reflections in October water."
The Ocooch Mountain News: "for a travelling man;" "bear stumbles;" "heat hangs" and "Before the White Pine Empire, circa 1860."
Page Five (broadside): "Jazz/love;" "Maiyisha;" "for a contemplative friend;" "One Flight "Up" and "tenorman;" "Baseball: broadside: ìAugust 1983.î
Paper Street Press: "winter coming."
Pebble Lake Review: "jazz Meditation, after Bonnard."
Pegasus: ìBonnardís ëGrape Harvestíî and ìHoricon Marsh, spring.î
Poets On: "Antonia's Garden" and "Thaw: a Barcarole."
Poetry Motel: "Riverrun."
Poetry Quilt : Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets Sesquicentennial Broadside: ìthe middle of April.î
Potpourri: "trail, early May" and "Wind Dance."
Red Weather: "Sioux Morning, Marquette, Iowa" and "Firesermon."
Rhino: ìHeat, summer, midwest, 1995î
Rio: ìAugust 4thî and ìJournal: walking spring through the parc.î
Riverrun: "Storm."
Riverrun: ìLineaments of Gratified Desire;î ìThe Illinois Prairies;î ìWinter-spring: the worldís tale;î ìIn the dead of winter;î and ìBleached blonde.î
Riverword: ìThe Hermit composes a letter to the Rich Girl;î ì The Hermitís lightning song: for drought;î ìLineaments of Gratified Desireî (alternate version); ìalchemy of lust;î ìSummerís animal;î and ìwhat the Mojave knows.î
Road/house: "Hermit;" "Martin Luther's Insomnia;" "A Short History of the Ranters;" "Rain: History of a German Family;" ìJournal of an Expedition;î "Naming;" "Fremont on the Columbia;" and ìReports from Pastor Ottomar Cloeterís Indian Mission.î
Rocky Mountain Review: "Thinking about Fertility Cults after a Summer storm."
Saturday's Poems: "The American Millenium;" "Thaw, 2003, Stanton Township;" "winterfall;" "backwater, winter light, Alma, WI;" "Poem for the New Year;" "spring thaw;" "still another Persian love poem;" May 18th;" "spring floods;" "just before sunset, Baraboo, Wisconsin;""late July, Devil's Lake;" "August 14;" "August evening."
Sidewalks: "Chicago, Hyde Park, Midnight."
Skylark Review: "For Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix."
The Slate: "at Read's Landing, MN, late February."
Spindrift: "6 PM, late October."
Spoon River Literary Review : "Child Brujo."
Spoon River Quarterly: "Matisse Time series ": "Living Quietly;" "Report on the Old Garden, July;" "the studio window; " "Miles Davis' 'Star People,' Jazz No. 1;" "Jazz No. 2;" "Matisse Time" (two versions); "California, December, coast." Ten translations from the French: ' "Sur chaque ardoise" (Reverdy); "Son de cloche" (Reverdy); "Nomade" (Reverdy); "Depart" (Reverdy); "Je marche" (Jaccottet); "Une semaison de larmes" (Jaccottet); "J'ai de la peine a renoncer aux images" (Jaccottet); "Dawn" (Jaccottet); "Trees I" (Jaccottet) and "L'Oeil" (Jaccottet).
State Street Poetry Sheet. "Miles Davis, Frelon brun."
Sundog: "Swan in Winter."
Tar River Poetry: "For Creedence Clearwater Revival;" "July Jazz: Midsummer Meditation;" "May Ist: Matisse Time;" and "Summer Loves."
Third Coast Archives: "A History of Peonies" and "in the window fire."
Tiger's Eye: "La Condition humaine;" "Dexter Gordon, floating upon emptiness;" "For Dexter Gordon;" Miles Davis " "Tadd's Delight;" "listening to Yo Yo Ma playing Bach's unaccompanied cello sonata.;" "little song;" "a take of Miles' Davis "Flamenco Sketches;'""Weather Report on Love;" ""the structure of Miles Davis' 'Toute de suite;" "Charlie Parker's 'Ah-leu-cha;'" "Ishmael;" "Songs of Love" (14 poems based on the music of Abida and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan).
Tsunami: "Poem Written to Clifford Brown's 'Joy Spring;"' "Song for Mara;" and "you milk your wide hard..."
Urban Spaghetti: "shake 'em on down" and "Miles and Coltrane,'Live in Stockholm.'"
Uroboros: "She: a celebration" and "Wedding Poem for Deborah and Robert."
Uzzano: Selections from "The Way the World Is": "Snowed in: Minnesota;" "Winter;" "Before;" "Spring Thaw;" "July Midnight;" "Eternal Return." "Chicago Near North" and "In Quest of a Greek Girl."
Washout Review: ìPostcard.î
Wavelength: "the American Millenium;" "the structure of open waterÖ;"cardinal in the middle;" ìon painting;î ìImpromptu;î ì9:30 PM, April 29th;î ìAugust;î ìcross-country skiing, early spring;î ìskiing in the rain;î "viewing 300 Years of Japanese Painting;" "listening to Miles Davis' I Thought about You."
West Wind Review: "American Water #4."
Wildflower: "listen/ people of the world of dust."
Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial Newsletter: "Antonia's Garden" (reprint) and "Winter Landscape."
The Window: "odalisque aux magnolias;î ìreclining nude;" and "studying Bernini.î
Wisconsin Academy Review: "Verde Que Te Quiero Verde: after Lorca;" ìWinter Seclusion;î ìJanuary 11th, kettling;î ìJanuary 11th: twenty belowî and ìswallowtails.î
Wisconsin Poet's Calendar 1982: "for Joshu Sasaki Roshi."
Wisconsin Review: "A Ballatetta for Winter" and ìNovember 30th.î
Word Riot. "On the Road."
Xanadu: ìDeathpoemî and ìAutumn meditation.î
Anthologies
The Blueline Anthology: "Skiing below Zero: afternoon raga;" "Spring, March 21st;" and "6:55 PM, June 23rd." Syracuse University Press, 2004.
Born Again Beef: A Bestiary: "Progress Report: for Charles Olson."
Dacotah Territory: a 10- Year Anthology~: "Old Testament." North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies (North Dakota University).
Dacotah Territory #17: Fathers: "Helixes."
Earth Tones: Creative Perspectives on Ecological Issues: "August 2."
Heron Dance Anthology. Raptor poems. Forthcoming
Inheriting the Land: Contemporary Voices from the Rural Midwest. University of Minnesota Press: "Grace."
Pen & Brush: A Collection of the Best Illustrations and Their Poems
From Hummingbird's First Fifteen Years. David Kopitzke, ed. Hummingbird Press: Richland Center, WI: 2005.
Remember That Symphonies Also Take Place in Snails: The Northeast Anthology - Selections from 25 Years of The Little Magazine
Northeast (1963-1988): "Winter Poetics for William Witherup."
Wisconsin Poetry 1991: "Easter Sunday," "Fantasia for Rain and Guitar,"
"Verde Que Te Quiero Verde," and "Winter Blues #33."
A Wolfsong Anthology: Selected Poems 1994-1999: "Grace" and "July Jazz: Midsummer Meditation."
Short Story (with poems)
"Portrait of an Artist as an Old Man." Kaleidoscope. Number 48. Winter/Spring, 2004: 54-55.
Essays and Presentations
"Reflections on Gary Snyder's Mountains and Rivers without End.American Literature Association. Cambridge, MA. May 23, 2003.
Essay on Ekphrasis for Literary Magazine Review. Vol. 20, No. 4 Winter 2002:12-17.
Essay on Hummingbird for Literary Magazine Review. Volume 19, No.3 Fall 2001: 7-12.
ìíThe Mindís Earí: Beethoven at Work.î Kaleidoscope. Number 43. July, 2001.
ìInsights into the Blues.î Kaleidoscope. Number 36, Winter/Spring 1998.
"Matisse's Jazz and the Dance of Life." Kaleidoscope, July, 1997.
ìCosmic Events at Swan Lake: the arrival of the tundra swans.î Wisconsin Academy Review, December, 1996.
"Putting Myself in My Place." Imagining Home: Writing from the Midwest. University of Minnesota Press, 1995. Re-released in paperback edition, April, 2000.
"Portrait of the Exile: A Study of Neil Bissoondath's On the Eve of Uncertain Tomorrows." The Canadian Literature Archive, the University of Manitoba. www.umanitoba.ca/canlit/conference/contents.shtml
"The Outsider in the Garden of Eden: A Study of Isabel Huggan's The Elizabeth Stories. The Canadian Literature Archive, the University of Manitoba. www.umanitoba.ca/canlit/conference/contents.shtml.
ìArt for the World's Sake." The Illinois Review. Vol. 2, No.1. Fall 1994: 62-7.
Introduction ("Fires in the West"). Men at Work by William Witherup. Boise: Ahsahta Press, 1989.
"Thomas McGrath's 'Green Dark.í' The Revolutionary Poet in the United States: The Poetry of Thomas McGrath, Columbia: The University of Missouri Press, 1988.
Review of James White's Salt Ecstacies. Northeast. Winter 1983-1984.
"Entering Dacotah Territory." Dacotah Territory: A 10-Year Anthology. Fargo, ND: North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1982.
Book of Literary Criticism
Journeys Toward the Original Mind: The Long Poems of Gary Snyder. New York: Peter Lang, 1995.
Chapbooks and books of poems
Songs of Love. Tiger's Eye Press. Sacramento, CA. August, 2005.
dance into heaven. St. Paul: Juniper Press, February, 2005.
In Search of "Green Dolphin Street." Marshfield, WI: Marsh River Editions. February, 2004.
The Red Cedar Suite, with photographs by Jerry Bowker. Menomonie: Friends of the Red Cedar Trail, 1999.
Grace: A Book of Days. Sturtevant, WI: Wolfsong, 1995.
Music for Monet. Peoria: Spoon River Poetry Press,1985.
Floating out of Stone. La Crosse: Juniper Press, 1982.
The Red Cedar Scroll. Menomonie, WI: Crow King Editions, 1981.
Origins. Belvidere,IL: Road/HousePress,1981.
Morning Raga. La Crosse: Juniper Press,1980.
Where is Dancers' Hill? Hermosa, SD: Lame Johnny Press, 1979.
Axle of the Oak. La Crosse: Juniper Press, 1978.
Seasonings. Oshkosh, Ouisconsin: Sun Rise Fall Down Artpress, 1978.
Appearances on Websites
Poem, "Sufi Music that appeared in Epicenter: epicentermagazine.org/sufi.htm
PAL; Perspectives in American Literature - A Research and Reference Guide. Chapter 10: Gary Snyder cites Journeys Toward the Original Mind www.csustan.edu/english/ressboth/pal/chap10/snyder.html
Another Gary Snyder site: www.heureka.clara.net/art/snyder.htm
1-999 Haiku cites Axle of the Oak www./2famille.ne.jp/~haiku
Blueline contains several poems www.potsdam.edu/engl/blueline
University of Manitoba Conference on Canadian Literature contains essays on the stories of Neil Bissondath and Isabel Huggan 130.179.92.25/canlit/
Kaleidoscope site contains Matisse's Jazz and the Dance of Life and Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man.
Rio site contains two poems.
Little Magazine Review site contains passage from essay on Ekphrasis.
Baybury Review site contains Driving through the night.
Urban Sphagetti, Issue #4
Tiger's Eye site contains "listening to Yo Yo Ma playing Bach's unaccompanied cellos sonata."
www.epicentermagazine.org/sufi.htm. contains a poem "Sufi music."
www.english.cla.unm.edu/grad/alumbooks3.php contains "Books by Doctoral Alumnae & Alumni from 1951: Department of English, University of Minnesota."
Poetry Readings
Montello Public Library. Montello, WI. May 2, 2005.
Neville Public Museum of Brown County. Green Bay, WI. February, 2005
UW-Stout. Furlong Art gallery. February 17, 2005.
Barnes and Noble. Green Bay. October 14, 2004
Michelangelo's. The Wisconsin Book Festival, sponsored by the Wisconsin Humanities Council. Madison, WI. October 9, 2004.
Drummond, WI. Library. September 19, 2004.
J.W. Beecroft Bookstore. Superior, WI. September 18. 2004.
Third Avenue Playhouse, Sturgeon Bay, WI. August 14, 2004.
Avols Bookstore, Madison, WI. July 15, 2004.
Woodland Pattern Book Center. Milwaukee. June 18,2004.
Wisconsin Writers Conference, June 4 and June 5, 2004, Baraboo, WI.
Montello Library. Montello, WI. May 3, 2004.
University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, WI, February 26, 2004
Unitarian Society, Excelsior, MN. January 11, 2004. See below.
Unitarian Society of Menomonie. April 13, 2003. Performance Of "Music for Awhile." Soprano Juliana Schmidt singing Copland's "Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson," complemented By a reading of my poetry.
Unitarian Universalist Church. Rochester, MN. March 30, 2002. Two performances of "Music for Awhile." Soprano Juliana Schmidt singing Copland's "Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson," complemented by a reading of my poetry.
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Arden Hills, MN. January 12, 2003. Performance of "Music for Awhile,Soprano Juliana Schmidt, pianist Ann Wolgeveda, poet Robert Schuler, in a program of Songs and poetry reflecting on nature , love, and death. The Program builds on Aaron Copland's settings of "Twelve Poems by Emily Dickinson," complemented by Schuler's original poetry
Marshfield Public Library. September 19, 2002.
University of Minnesota, Department of English Graduate Alumnae/Alumni Conference. April 5, 2002. Radisson Hotel Metrodome.
Congregational Church, Menomonie WI. October 28, 2001. Reading of "The Mind's Ear: Beethoven at Work" in Concert with the Lindsayan String Quartet.
Dunn County Veteransí Memorial. June 14, 2001.
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Eau Claire, April, 2000, poems to accompany Copland's Twelve Songs of Emily Dickinson." See above Arden Hills, MN.
L.E. Phillips Memorial Library, Eau Claire, January 2000, Reading , accompanied by Jerry Bowkerís slides of his photographs..
Unitarian Society, Menomonie, November 1999, Reading of The Red CedarSuite and other pieces on the Red Cedar River, accompanied by the slides of photographer Jerry Bowker;
Unitarian Society, Menomonie, October 1999. Read a large selection of my poems to accompany Coplandís ìTwelve Songs of Emily Dickinson,î sung by Julianna Schmidt. See above Arden Hills, MN.
L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, Eau Claire, April 1999;
The Upstart Crow Bookstore, October, 1998;
Borderís Bookstore, Eau Claire, September, 1998;
The Clearing, Ellison Bay, WI for Baybury Books and The Baybury Review, August. 1998.
Friends of the Red Cedar Trail, June, 1998, Downsville, WI.
The University of Wisconsin-River Falls, October, 1997.
Upstart Crow, Bookseller, Menomonie, WI, sponsored by the Wisconsin Arts Board.
Shimer College, August, 1997;
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, February, 1997;
College of St. Catherine, February, 1997;
Midwest Modern Language Association, November, 1996;
Unitarian Society, Menomonie (2), September and October, 1996;
Upstart Crow Bookstore Menomonie (2), August and December, 1995;
Moorhead State College, November, 1995;
Shimer College, August, 1995;
Michigan State University, Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature, May, 1994;
Midwestern Modern Language Association, November, 1993;
Augsburg College, April, 1993;
Regional Arts Center, La Crosse, WI, March, 1991;
(Hiatus - 1986-1989: Teaching full-time and completing Ph.D.);
The Loft, A Ceili for Thomas McGrath. September, 1986;
Festival of the Lakes, Madison, WI, September, 1986. Sponsored by Abraxas Magazine;
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (4):
Spring, 1979,
Summer 1981,
December, 1984,
December, 1985;
St. Olaf College, September, 1985;
The Hungry Mind Bookstore, St. Paul, November, 1985;
The 29th Annual Willa Cather Conference, Red Cloud, NE, May, 1984;
Southwest State University, May, 1984;
The University of Chicago, November, 1983;
Moraine Valley Community College, IL, March, 1983;
Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, January, 1983;
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, November, 1982;
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Summer, 1982;
North Stone Review Poetry Reading Series, Minneapolis, Fall, 1981;
University of Minnesota, Great Midwestern Bookfair, Spring, 1980;
University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Fall, 1978.
Awards and Honors
Selected to appear in
Dictionary of International Biography, 31st Edition; 32nd; 33rd.
Who's Who in American Education, 6th Edition
Who's Who Among America's Teachers, Eighth Edition
Directory of American Scholars, 11th Edition
Whoís Who in America, 2002; 2003, 2004
Contemporary Authors.
The International Who's Who in Poetry and Poet's Encyclopaedia, Tenth Edition.
2000 Outstanding Writers of the 20th Century;
A Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers; Poets & Writers, Inc.
Men of Achievement;
Personalities of America;
International Authors and Writers Who's Who;
Who's Who in U.S. Writers, Editors, and Poets;
International Who's Who of Professionals.
Wisconsin Arts Board New Works Grant, $3000, to create poems and short prose sketches for a book on the Red Cedar Trail, accompanied by photographs of Jerry Bowker, Summer/Fall 1998.
Wisconsin Arts Board Fellowship for Poetry, 1997.
The 1996 University of Wisconsin-Stout Outstanding Researcher Award.
Hormel Professorship, 1995-1996.
Faculty Enrichment Grant for the Study of Canadian Literature. Government of Canada. 1992-1994.
Co-Director, Women of Color in the Curriculum, UW-Stout. Grant from the Ford Foundation and the UW System. 6/90 -9/91.
Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society, University of Minnesota, since 1988.
Judge, Illinois Arts Council Literary Awards, 1982.
Several grants from the Illinois Arts Council.
Two grants from the Illinois Humanities Council.
Several grants from the Wisconsin Humanities Council.
National Endowment for the Arts Grant.
Danforth Fellow, Yale , 1969-1970.
Four nominations for Pushcart prizes.
Last update: Sunday, February 12, 2006