r james sterzinger Biography

English major dropout. Writing off and on for 30yrs. bibliophile. Earliest influence was Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg. Eventually wandered into Beat and Li Po- Han Shan territory. Now I am back to Robert Frost and poets like Robert Lowell and Frederick Seidel, and Bill Holm, and Jim Harrison. as well as the poetry of Reynolds Price, who is my favorite writer, though my style is more Bukowski rather than anyone else. I also am a great lover of Ezra Pounds's work as well as Pasternak and other Russian poets. Also I think that Jane Kenyon is one of the greatest poets ever. Write now I am doing readings as well as looking to publish a chap book. the 'M' and 'SP' to whom many of my poems are dedicated takes on the roles of muse and friend. Favorite poems: Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket, Having it out with Melancholy, Take Something Like a Star. the Cantos, and Ash Wednesday and all of Joseph Brodsky's Christmas poems.