Howard W. Robertson

Robertson was born in Eugene, Oregon.[1] He married Margaret Collins on August 10, 1991 and has two daughters and two sons.[1] He received a B.A. in Russian (1970) and an M.A. in Comparative Literature (1978) from the University of Oregon as well as a Master's in Library Science (1975) from the University of Southern California.[1] Robertson is part-Cherokee.

He was the Slavic Catalog Librarian and Bibliographer at the University of Oregon Library from 1975-1993.[1] He is a past President of the Lane Literary Guild.[1] He has been a full-time poet since 1993.[1] Robertson was a long-haul truck driver in the American West during 1994-1995.[2][3]

He is a 2007 Jack Straw Writer with Jack Straw Productions in Seattle, Washington.[4][5] Robertson read his poems at the 2007 Burning Word Festival.[6] Robertson was the Poet-in-Residence at the Henry Art Gallery on the University of Washington campus in Seattle during April 2010.[7] He gave a reading with other Native American authors at Tsunami Books in Eugene, Oregon, during November, 2010.[8]

Eric Alan interviewed Robertson on NPR-Living Large on April 18, 2013.[9] Robertson gave a reading as part of the Third Saturday Reading Series at Tsunami Books in Eugene, Oregon, on April 20, 2013.[10] He was interviewed about his novel, Peculiar Pioneer, on KLCC FM on December 4, 2013 and a recording of this interview is available on the KLCC website.[11] Together with his wife Margaret Robertson, he gave a joint reading about sustainability at Tsunami Books in Eugene, Oregon, on April 5, 2014.[12][13] Robertson read from Peculiar Pioneer at the inaugural reading of the Lane Writers Reading Series in Eugene, Oregon, on September 28, 2014.[14] Robertson read his long, philosophical poem, "Quantum intimations at the grand Multnomah", at the River Road Annex in Eugene, Oregon, on January 25, 2015.[15] Robertson read his long, philosophical poem, "Hope speaks of life on Earth", at the Lane Community College Downtown Campus in Eugene, Oregon, on December 1, 2016.[16]

Robertson defines poetry broadly as an inclusive genre, referring to the archaic meaning of "poem": a made thing, ποίημα.[17] He consequently considers each of his poems to be an ode, a fiction, an essay, an abstract painting and a jazz improvisation.[17] He describes his poetry as a mimesis of the streaming of Being through Nonbeing.[17] He intends a continuous poetic flow that pauses but seldom stops, so that his line-breaks become purely visual and do not halt the progress of the poetic line when spoken.[17] He means for his poetry to affirm with Aristotle that truth is most universally told through a blend of fictional and factual material.[17] He conceives each poem as an essay of existential discovery, an enterprising foray into the discursive wilderness.[17] He maintains that his poetry portrays visually the drift and swirl of the things themselves and the interconnected chiaroscuro of shadowy essence and shimmering everydayness.[17] He bases his work on the belief that reality never fails and that the phenomenal revelatory streaming of its representation in his poetry is authentic.[17] He credits Heidegger, Whitman, Pushkin, Bashō, Cervantes, Montaigne and Ovid as his major influences.[17]

His first book of poems was titled to the fierce guard in the Assyrian Saloon in 1987.[18] His second book of poems was titled Ode to certain interstates and Other Poems.[19] His third book of poems was titled The Bricolage of Kotegaeshi.[20] His fourth book of poems, The Gaian Odes, won the Sinclair Poetry Prize.[21][22] His fifth book of poems was Two Odes of Quiddity and Nil.[23] His sixth book of poems was Odes to the Ki of the Universe.[24] His seventh book of poems was The Green Force of Spring.[25] His eighth book of poems was Ode to Certain Interstates.[26] His ninth book of poems was Odes to the Ki of the Universe.[27] His first novel was Peculiar Pioneer.[28] He published a book of stories, Hyperzotica.[29] His tenth book of poems was Hope Speaks.[30] His second novel was Love in the Cretaceous.[31]

Robertson's poetry won him the Tor House Robinson Jeffers Prize in 2003,[32] the Elizabeth R. Curry Poetry Prize at Slippery Rock University in 2006,[33] the Sinclair Poetry Prize from Evening Street Press in 2009,[34] and the Atlanta Review's International Merit Award in 2014.[35] He won the Bumbershoot Writers-in-Performance Award in 1993, the Pacifica Award in 1995 and the Literal Latte Award in 1997.[1]

• Grant Cogswell's February 3, 2005 review of Ode to certain interstates and Other Poems in The Stranger
• Novella Carpenter's August 11, 2004 review of Ode to certain interstates and Other Poems in metroactive

• Howard W. Robertson's website at the Authors Guild
• Howard W. Robertson listing in Poets & Writers directory
• Robertson's essay "What Is To Be Done Visually?" in Laughing Bear Newsletter