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Rediscovering a Major Colorado Poet
I just finished reading an extraordinary collection of poems by the long-overlooked Colorado poet Belle Turnbull. Certainly no better poems have been written about the lives of people wooed into the mountains by a vision of wealth—from gold, silver, molybdenum, and other elemental substances—and a primal sense of personal liberty. Edited by David J. Rothman, an excellent poet in his own right, and Vonnegut aficionado Jeffrey Villines, this book belongs in the library of every poet and certainly every reader who cares about poetry of the American West.Read More
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Belle Turnbull at the Colorado Creative Industries Summit
I came to this year’s Colorado Creative Industries Summit in Breckenridge with two tasks in mind. One was to represent the new Professional Creative Writing master’s degree program which I’m directing at the University of Denver’s University College. My second task was to welcome attendees of the annual Governor’s Creative Leadership Awards luncheon with a poem. Rather than regale the crowd with a poem of mine, I offered one by a woman who, for my money, is among the three or four best poets Colorado has produced so far.Read More