Dennis Schmitz

Dennis Schmitz (born August 11, 1937 Dubuque, Iowa) is an American poet.

Life
Schmitz grew up in Dubuque, Iowa. He graduated from Loras College and the University of Chicago. He married Loretta D'Agostino in 1960. He taught at Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and California State University, Sacramento. His students include Raymond Carver, Charlene Ungstad and Gary Short.

He opposes the death penalty and protests executions in California every time they take place.

His work has appeared in the Alaska Quarterly Review, American Poetry Review, The Nation, Paris Review, the Chicago Review and Zyzzyva.

He lives in Sacramento, California.

Writing
Virginia Quarterly Review:]] "Schmitz is the kind of poet whose work is unknown to the general public but eagerly read by other writers in top literary magazines like Field or Antaeus''. In this volume, he continues the exciting work he has already done with dramatic monologues and religious meditations set on California farms or in the construction sites, flophouses, and movie palaces of Chicago.

Awards

 * poet laureate of Sacramento, California
 * 1978 Guggenheim Fellow
 * 1976-1977, 1985–1986, 1992-1993 Fellow National Endowment for the Arts
 * 1987-1988 Shelley Memorial Award

Poetry

 * The Truth Squad (Copper Canyon Press, 2002)
 * About Night (Field Editions, 1993)
 * Eden (University of Illinois Press, 1989)
 * Singing (Ecco Press, 1985)
 * String (Ecco Press, 1980)
 * Goodwill, Inc 1976
 * Double Exposures 1971
 * We Weep for Our Strangeness, 1969