During the years when Bill Trowbridge and I taught together at the University of Nebraska Omaha's MFA in Writing program I learned a great deal from him. First and foremost was to take everything seriously. KIDDING! Bill can find the humor in anything and he knows how to tell you about it so you can see it too. But with the humor, he knows how to find the deeper meaning that has you laughing and leaves you thinking. He's a storyteller and a poet.
William Trowbridge holds a B.A. in Philosophy and an M.A. in English from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a PH.D. in English from Vanderbilt University. He served as Poet Laureate of the State of Missouri from 2012-2016.
His poetry includes nine full collections: Call Me Fool, [Red Hen Press, fall 2022], Oldguy:Superhero—The Complete Collection, [Red Hen Press, 2019], Vanishing Point, [Red Hen Press, April, 2017], Put This On, Please [Red Hen Press, 2014], Ship of Fool [Red Hen Press, 2011], The Complete Book of Kong [Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2003], Flickers, O Paradise, and Enter Dark Stranger [Universiy of Arkansas Press, 2000, 1995, 1989]. He has also published four chapbooks: Oldguy: Superhero, a graphic chapbook in the form of a comic book, [Red Hen, 2016], The Packing House Cantata [Camber Press, 2006], The Four Seasons [Red Dragonfly Press, 2001], and The Book of Kong [Iowa State University Press, 1986].
His poems have appeared in more than 50 anthologies and textbooks, as well as in such periodicals as Poetry, The Gettysburg Review, Crazyhorse, The Georgia Review, Boulevard, The Southern Review, Columbia, Colorado Review, The Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, Epoch, and New Letters.
He is a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Northwest Missouri State University, where he was an editor of The Laurel Review/GreenTower Press from 1986 to 2004. Now living in Lee's Summit, Missouri, he teaches in the University of Nebraska Omaha MFA in Writing Program.
His interests are reading, travel, motorcycling, wine tasting, fine dining, and trying to keep the damn rabbits out of the hibiscus.