Philip Metres

Philip J. Metres III (born 1970) is an award-winning American poet, translator, scholar, and activist.

Life
Metres was born in San Diego, California, and raised in Lincolnshire, Illinois. His family of origin includes psychologists Kay Dannemann Metres (mother) and Phil Metres Jr. (father), education and writing entrepreneur Katherine Metres (sister), and attorney David Metres (brother).

After Metres received a B.A. magna cum laude from Holy Cross College, he went on to earn an M.A. (English), M.F.A. (poetry) and Ph.D. (English) at Indiana University at Bloomington.

His most recent poetry books include abu ghraib arias (Flying Guillotine Press, 2011),  Ode to Oil (Kattywompus Press, 2011), and See the Earth'' (Cleveland State Poetry Center, 2008). He has published poems, essays, and reviews in literary journals and magazines including Poetry, New England Review, Tin House, Ploughshares, New American Writing, Massachusetts Review, Field, and others. His work has been anthologized in Best American Poetry; Saying What Happened: American Poetry After the Millennium (2012); A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry (2011); I Go to the Ruined Place: Contemporary Poems in Defense of Global Human Rights (2009); and Inclined to Speak: Contemporary Arab American Poetry (2008).

During his Thomas J. Watson Fellowship (1992–93), he began to translate contemporary Russian poetry, and he has since published numerous translations of the poetry of Sergey Gandlevsky and Lev Rubinstein.

He is currently a well-regarded professor of English at John Carroll University. Metres blogs frequently and teaches issues related to non-violent resistance to war and racism in the United States, Middle East, and Northern Ireland. Of half Lebanese descent, Metres plays a role in the Arab-American literary scene. Metres currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio with his wife, Amy Breau, and two young daughters.

Recognition
Metres’ honors include four Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards, the Anne Halley Prize for best poem by Massachusetts Review (2012), the Cleveland Arts Prize (Emerging Artist) (2010), Jury Prize for To See the Earth (Lit’s Literary Showcase, 2008), Twin Cranes Peace Poem Prize for “For the Fifty Who Formed PEACE with Their Bodies,” and a National Endowment of the Arts fellowship (2001). His first book, Behind the Lines, received the COPRED/OMNI PeaceWriting Award.

Awards

 * Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, Poetry, 2012
 * Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, Criticism, 2012
 * Massachusetts Review Anne Halley Prize for Best Poem, 2012
 * Cleveland Arts Prize, Emerging Artist Award, 2010
 * Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award Grant, Criticism, 2009
 * To See the Earth, Jury Prize for the Lit’s Literary Showcase, September 2008
 * “For the Fifty Who Formed PEACE With Their Bodies,” First Place, Twin Cranes Peace Poem contest, 2004
 * “The Doors of Vereshchagin,” First Place, New Words/Akron Art Museum contest, 2004
 * Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, Poetry, 2004
 * Behind the Lines, COPRED/OMNI PeaceWriting Award 2002
 * “Ashberries,” The Best American Poetry, 2002
 * National Endowment of the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship, 2001
 * Ross Lockridge Jr. Award for Creative Writing, Indiana University, 2001
 * Guy Lemmon Prize for Professional Writing, Indiana University, 2000
 * QALAM (Arab-American Literature) Contest, First Prize, Poetry, 1999
 * Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, 1992-3

Poetry

 * Primer for Non-Native Speakers. Kent, OH:  Wick Poetry Series, 2004.
 * Instants. New York:  Ugly Duckling Presse, 2006.
 * To See the Earth. Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2008.
 * abu ghraib arias. Denver, CO:  Flying Guillotine Press, 2011
 * Thirty-Five New Pages. Translation.  Lev Rubinstein.  New York:  Ugly Duckling Presse, 2011.
 * Ode to Oil. Cleveland Heights, OH:  Kattywompus Press, 2011.

Criticism

 * Behind the Lines: War Resistance Poetry on the American Homefront Since 1941. Poetry Criticism and Social History. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2007.

Translated

 * Catalogue of Comedic Novelties: Selected Poems of Lev Rubinstein. Translation by Philip Metres and Tatiana Tulchinsky.  New York: Ugly Duckling Presse, 2004.
 * A Kindred Orphanhood: Selected Poems of Sergey Gandlevsky. Translation by Philip Metres.  Boston, MA: Zephyr Press, 2003.

Anthologies Edited

 * Come Together: Imagine Peace: An Anthology of Peace Poems (introduction by Philip Metres; edited by Philip Metres, Ann Smith, and Larry Smith).  Huron, OH: Bottom Dog Press, 2008.