Jamie Parsley

{{Infobox writer | name = Jamie Parsley | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1969|12|8|df=}} | birth_place = Fargo, North Dakota, United States | occupation = Poet, Episcopal priest | period = 1990s-present | education = Vermont College of Fine Arts (MFA)<br>Nashotah House Seminary (MA) }}

'''Jamie Parsley''' (born December 8, 1969) is an American poet and Episcopal priest. He is the author of fifteen books of poems and an associate poet laureate for the state of North Dakota.<ref name="Star Tribune">{{cite web | title=BOOKMARK; Book documents Minnesota's Carnegie libraries | publisher=Star Tribune | date=October 2, 2011 | author=Hertzel, Laurie}}</ref>

==Biography==

Born in Fargo, North Dakota and raised near Harwood, North Dakota, Parsley received a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from Vermont College at Norwich University.<ref name="Read North Dakota">{{cite web| url=http://readnd.org/parsley-jamie.html/| title=Parsley, Jamie - Read North Dakota| access-date=2013-10-10| archive-date=2020-09-22| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922053936/http://www.readnd.org/parsley-jamie.html| url-status=dead}}</ref> He studied at the School of Theology at Thornloe University in Sudbury, Ontario, St. Joseph’s College, Standish, Maine and received a Master's Degree from Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary, Nashotah, Wisconsin.<ref name="St. Stephen's website">{{cite web | url=http://ststephensfargo.org/welcome/from-our-priest | publisher=St. Stephen's Episcopal Church | access-date=October 8, 2013| title=From our Priest/Staff of St. Stephen's « St. Stephen's Episcopal Church }}</ref> Parsley was ordained as an Episcopal priest in 2004, became the priest-in-charge of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church Fargo in 2008.<ref name="St. Stephen's website"/> Parsley began teaching Theology, Ethics, Philosophy, Literature and Writing at the University of Mary's Fargo campus in 2003. Parsley published his first book of poems, ''Paper Doves, Falling and Other Poems'' in 1992. Parsley’s book, ''Cloud'', is a book-length poem on the bombing of Hiroshima. Parsley's book of collected haiku, ''no stars, no moon: new and collected haiku,'' was published in 2004.

Parsley was appointed an Associate Poet Laureate of North Dakota by Poet Laureate Larry Woiwode in 2004.<ref name="Episcopal News Service Archive">{{cite web |url=http://archive.episcopalchurch.org/3577_33952_ENG_HTM.htm/ |title=Transitional deacon named associate poet laureate of North Dakota |publisher=Episcopal News Service |date=March 30, 2004 |access-date=October 8, 2013 }}{{dead link|date=April 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Since 2021, Parsley has served as the poet-in-residence at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Priest and Poet to Teach at Concordia |url=https://www.concordiacollege.edu/news/details/priest-and-poet-to-teach-at-concordia/ |access-date=2025-12-29 |website=Concordia College |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Jamie Parsley {{!}} West Fargo Area Education Foundation |url=https://www.wfaed.foundation/jamie-parsley/ |access-date=2025-12-29 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Reception== Parsley’s tenth book, ''Fargo, 1957'', was published in 2010, and chronicled the stories of the victims and survivors of the tornado that struck Fargo, North Dakota on June 20, 1957<ref name="Star Tribune"/> and killed two of his mother's cousins.<ref name="High Plains Reader">{{cite web|url=http://hpr1.com/arts/article/jamie_parsleys_fargo_1957_an_elegy/ |title=Jamie Parsley's "Fargo, 1957: An Elegy" |publisher=High Plains Reader |date= |access-date=August 27, 2013 |author=Nygard, Dan |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103030809/http://hpr1.com/arts/article/jamie_parsleys_fargo_1957_an_elegy/ |archive-date=November 3, 2013 }}</ref> A reviewer in the ''High Plains Reader'' writes that Parsley's shows a "willingness to present himself and his own obsession honestly—the process of discovering these people and what they have left behind."<ref name="High Plains Reader"/>

== Publications == *''Paper Doves, Falling and Other Poems'' Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico. 1992 *''The Loneliness of Blizzards''. Mellen Press; Lewiston, New York. 1995. {{ISBN|9780773400115}} *''Cloud: a poem in 2 acts''; Mellen Press, Lewiston, New York 1997 {{ISBN|9780773428232}} *''The Wounded Table'' Pudding House, Johnstown, Ohio 1999 {{ISBN|9780944754696}} *''earth into earth, water into water''. Enso Press, Fargo, North Dakota 2000 *''no stars, no moon''. Mellen Press, Lewiston, New York 2004 {{ISBN|9780773434875}} *''Ikon,'' Enso Press, Fargo, North Dakota 2005. *''Just Once'', Loonfeather Press, Bemidji, Minnesota 2007 {{ISBN|9780926147249}} *''This Grass''. Enso Press, Fargo, North Dakota. 2009 {{ISBN|9780615333465}} *''Fargo, 1957''. Institute for Regional Studies, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota. 2010 {{ISBN|9780911042733}} *''Crow''. Enso Press, Fargo, North Dakota. 2012 {{ISBN|9780615622804}} *''That Word''. North Star Press, St. Cloud, Minnesota. 2014 {{ISBN|9780878399857}} *''The Downstairs Tenant and Other Stories'' (Institute for Regional Studies, North Dakota State University, 2014) {{ISBN|9780911042801}} *''Only Then'' (Pilgrim Soul Press, Fargo, North Dakota, 2017) {{ISBN|9780692052907}} *''Echo'' (Benevolent Press, Moorhead, Minnesota, 2023) {{ISBN|9798218274238}} *''Salt'' (Kelsay Press, American Fork, Utah, 2024) {{ISBN|9781639804429}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.jamieparsley.com Official Website]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parsley, Jamie}} Category:1969 births Category:American male poets Category:Poets laureate of North Dakota Category:Vermont College of Fine Arts alumni Category:21st-century American Episcopal priests Category:Writers from Fargo, North Dakota Category:Living people Category:21st-century American poets Category:21st-century American male writers