{{Short description|American poet (1955–2020)}} {{infobox writer |name=David Clewell |birth_date={{birth date|1955|2|11}} |birth_place=New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S. |death_date={{death date and age|2020|2|15|1955|2|11}} |occupation=Poet |nationality=American |education=Highland Park High School<br>University of Wisconsin–Madison (BA)<br>Washington University in St. Louis (MFA) |spouse=Patricia }} '''David Clewell''' (February 11, 1955 – February 15, 2020)<ref>{{cite web |url= http://legacynews.webster.edu/employee/2020/clewell_obit.html |title= Remembering David Clewell: Missouri Poet Laureate and Honored Professor |author= <!--Not stated--> |date= February 16, 2020 |website= |publisher= Webster University |access-date= March 18, 2021 |quote= }}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> was an American poet and creative writing instructor at Webster University. From 2010 to 2012, he served as the Poet Laureate of Missouri.
==Life== Clewell was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1955<ref>[http://www2.webster.edu/news/clewell2.shtml "David Clewell: Poet Laureate of Missouri"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111213010408/http://www.webster.edu/news/clewell2.shtml |date=2011-12-13 }} (2011). Webster University News and Events. Retrieved October 23, 2012.</ref><ref name="About" /> and attended Highland Park High School, in nearby Highland Park, where he first developed an interest in poetry.<ref>[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"], Geosi Reads, October 16, 2016. Accessed February 7, 2020. "Shortly after the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, Bob Stephens read every word of Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience out loud to his 8 a.m. Freshman English class at Highland Park High because he honestly believed that words, used well, had the power to change lives. Small wonder, then, that he was the person to show me the first poems I actually cared about in mine."</ref> He graduated from University of Wisconsin with a B.A. in English.<ref name="Gov" /> In 1979, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri and earned an M.F.A. in writing from Washington University in St. Louis.<ref name="About" /> In 1985, Clewell began teaching in the English Department at Webster University.<ref name="About" /><ref>[http://www.webster.edu/depts/artsci/english/faculty.html#davidbio "Faculty"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100810023905/http://www.webster.edu/depts/artsci/english/faculty.html |date=2010-08-10 }} (n.d.). Webster University English Department. Retrieved October 23, 2012.</ref> A year later, he started the Webster University Visiting Writers Series, which he still coordinated until his death.<ref name="Gov" />
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."<ref name="Gov" />
Clewell is the author of 10 poetry collections and his work has appeared in over 50 journals and magazines,<ref name="Gov" /> including ''Harper's'',<ref>[http://www.harpers.org/subjects/DavidClewell "Clewell, David (1955-)"] (1994). Harper's Magazine.</ref> ''Poetry'',<ref>Table of contents. [http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/toc.html?issue=952 ''Poetry Magazine''] (August 1992).</ref><ref>Table of contents. [http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/toc.html?issue=1038 ''Poetry Magazine''] (March 2000).</ref> ''The Kenyon Review'', ''The Missouri Review'',<ref>[http://www.missourireview.com/content/dynamic/author_detail.php?author_id=194 "David Clewell"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100823070017/http://www.missourireview.com/content/dynamic/author_detail.php?author_id=194 |date=2010-08-23 }} (n.d.). ''The Missouri Review'' online.</ref> ''The Georgia Review'', ''Ontario Review'', ''New Letters'', and ''Yankee''. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for poetry seven times.<ref name="Gov" />
He was the poet laureate for the state of Missouri, serving until 2012. He was succeeded by William Trowbridge.<ref name="Gov">[http://governor.mo.gov/newsroom/2010/David_Clewell "Gov. Nixon appoints David Clewell Poet Laureate of Missouri"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005031610/http://governor.mo.gov/newsroom/2010/David_Clewell |date=2011-10-05 }} (2010). Office of Missouri Governor Jay Nixon. Retrieved October 23, 2012. {{dead link|date=May 2024}}</ref>
He lived in Webster Groves, Missouri with his wife Patricia.<ref name="About">[http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/article_d193f9a4-ae9c-5213-a818-cca20fe28758.html "About David Clewell"] (2010). StlToday.com. Retrieved October 23, 2012.</ref><ref name="Gov" />
==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<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.webster.edu/employee/2017/david-clewell-lifetime-achievement-arts-award.html|title=David Clewell honored for lifetime achievement by Webster Groves Arts Commission|access-date=October 16, 2018|archive-date=October 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181016204508/http://news.webster.edu/employee/2017/david-clewell-lifetime-achievement-arts-award.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Works==
===Poems=== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090928164928/http://www.wordvirtual.org/issue4/jackrubysamerica.html "from Jack Ruby's America", ''Word Virtual'', 1999] *[https://poets.org/poem/not-mention-love-heart-patricia "Not to Mention Love: A Heart for Patricia", Poets.org] *[https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=40804 "On the Eve of His Retirement, the Weight-Guesser Goes All Out", Poetry Foundation, March 2000] *[http://counterbalance.typepad.com/counterbalance/2007/04/april_9_the_acc.html "The Accomplice", ''Counterbalance'', April 9, 2007] *[https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=36021 "Two Alley Songs for the Vegetable Man: St. Louis, MO", Poetry Foundation, January 1985]
===Poetry collections=== * {{cite book| title=Room to Breathe| publisher=Pentagram Press| year=1976| isbn=978-0-915316-30-4 }} * {{cite book| title=Blessings in Disguise| url=https://archive.org/details/blessingsindisgu0000clew| url-access=registration| publisher=Penguin Books| year=1991| isbn=978-0-14-058672-5 }} * {{cite book| title=Now We're Getting Somewhere| url=https://archive.org/details/nowweregettingso00clew| url-access=registration| quote=David Clewell.| publisher=University of Wisconsin Press| year=1994| isbn=978-0-299-14414-2 }} * {{cite book| title=The conspiracy quartet| publisher=Garlic Press| year=1997| isbn=978-0-9643009-2-7 }} *{{cite book| title=Jack Ruby's America| publisher=Garlic Press| year=2000| isbn=978-0-9643009-3-4 }} * {{cite book| title=The Low End of Higher Things| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jx7YYIW_4yEC&q=David+Clewell| publisher=University of Wisconsin Press| year=2003| isbn=978-0-299-18574-9 }} * {{cite book| title=Taken Somehow By Surprise| publisher=University of Wisconsin Press| year=2011| isbn=978-0-299251-14-7 }}
===Anthologies=== *{{cite book| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LOX2CV7-Gv0C&dq=David+Clewell&pg=PA91| chapter=Goodbye Note to Debbie Fuller: Pass It On| publisher=Simon and Schuster| year=1999| isbn=978-0-689-81341-2 |title=I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You: Paired Poems by Men & Women|editor=Naomi Shihab Nye |editor2=Paul B. Janeczko |editor2-link=Paul B. Janeczko }} *{{cite book| title=Outsiders: poems about rebels, exiles, and renegades| editor=Laure-Anne Bosselaar| editor-link=Laure-Anne Bosselaar| publisher=Milkweed Editions| year=1999| isbn=978-1-57131-409-3| url=https://archive.org/details/outsiders00laur}} *{{cite book| title=Poetry 180: a turning back to poetry| editor=Billy Collins| publisher=Random House Trade Paperbacks| year=2003| isbn=978-0-8129-6887-3| url=https://archive.org/details/poetry18000bill}} *{{cite book| title=New American poets|editor=Jack Elliott Myers|editor-link=Jack Elliott Myers|editor2=Roger Weingarten| publisher=David R. Godine Publisher| year=2005| isbn=978-1-56792-302-5 }}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://poetrydispatch.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/david-clewell-new-years-eve-letter-to-friends-2/ "DAVID CLEWELL", ''Poetry Dispatch'', No. 263, December 31, 2008] *[http://www.playbackstl.com/therest/page-by-page/book-profile-page-by-page/words-that-matter-david-clewell/ "Words That Matter: David Clewell", ''Playback'', Kyle Beachy, 16 December 2005]{{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQKYV3dx3lQ "Huetato Warrior", ''YouTube'', David Clewell and Benjamin Clewell, 07 November 2009]
{{Authority control}} {{MO Poets Laureate|state=autocollapse}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clewell, David}} Category:American male poets Category:Poets from New Jersey Category:1955 births Category:2020 deaths Category:Highland Park High School (New Jersey) alumni Category:People from Highland Park, New Jersey Category:Poets laureate of Missouri Category:Webster University faculty Category:Writers from New Brunswick, New Jersey Category:People from Webster Groves, Missouri Category:Washington University in St. Louis alumni Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni Category:20th-century American poets Category:20th-century American male writers Category:21st-century American poets Category:21st-century American male writers