Mick Burrs. Photo by Crossways Photo Images, Toronto. Courtesy League of Canadian Poets.
Mick Burrs is the pen name of Steven Michael Berzensky (born April 10, 1940), an American-born Canadian poet.
Life[]
Burrs was born and raised in California, where he earned a B.A. in English.[1]
He left the United States to avoid the Vietnam War, moving to Regina, Saskatchewan, in 1973, and Yorkton, Saskatchewan, in 1985.[1]
He was Yorkton's inaugural writer in residence, co-founding the town's Parkland Writers Alliance in 1985, and creating the literary page for Yorkton This Week.[1] He moved to Toronto, Ontario, in 2005.[2]
He has published 7 books, 32 chapbooks, and over 850 poems, and been included in more than 50 anthologies of poetry and fiction. He was an editor of Grain literary magazine, and founded the annual Short Grain Contest. He wrote the columns "Poetry Matters" for FreeLance (Saskatchewan Writers Guild, 1999-2003) and "Poetry Tips" for VerseAfire (Ontario Poetry Society).[3]
Recognition[]
Burrs won the Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry 1n 1998 for Variations on the Birth of Jacob.[1] Other awards he has received include:
- Co-Winner, 1983 Saskatchewan Writers Guild Poetry Manuscript Competition (for Blue Pools of Paradise)
- Finalist, 1994 People's Poetry Award (Dark Halo)
- Finalist, 2002 Saskatchewan Book of the Year, Saskatchewan Book Awards (The Names Leave the Stones: Poems new and eelected)
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- as Mick Burrs
- In the Dark the Journeyman Landed (chapbook). Regina, SK: Waking Image Press, 1971.
- Adventures of the Midnight Janitor (chapbook). Regina, SK: Waking Image Press, 1972.
- Game Farm: Poems for intereflection 1967-1975 (chapbook). Regina, SK: Waking Image Press, 1975.
- Sockpan (chapbook). Regina, SK: Waking Image Press, 1976.
- Moving in from Paradise. Moose Jaw, SK: Coteau Books, 1976.
- Children on the Edge of Space. Vancouver, BC: Blue Mountain Books, 1977.
- Walls (chapbook). Regina, SK: Waking Image Press, 1977.
- Seeds of Light (chapbook). Regina, SK: Waking Image Press, 1978.
- The Hillside Poems: A poem sequence (chapbook). Regina, SK: Waking Image Press, 1979, 1981.
- Word Crumbs: Poems (chapbook). Regina, SK: Waking Image Press, 1980.
- Pages Torn from Trees: Some poems recently rediscovered, written originally in Vancouver, Edmonton, & Regina between 1969 and 1976 (chapbook). Regina, SK: Waking Image Press, 1981; Toronto: Lyricalmyrical Press, 2007.
- Aurora: poems (chapbook). Regina, SK: Waking Image Press, 1980.
- The Waking Image Bedside Companion (chapbook). Regina, SK:: Waking Image Press, 1982.
- The Blue Pools of Paradise. Moose Jaw, SK: Coteau Books / Thunder Creek Pub. Co-operative, 1983.
- Listening to the Crows: Poems & collages (chapbook). Regina, SK: Waking Image Press, 1983.
- Ghostwriters and Bookworms (chapbook). Yorkton, SK: Waking Image Press, 1984.
- From my Box of Dreams: poems (chapbook). Yorkton, SK: Waking Image Press, 1986.
- Lit Like Gold: poems (chapbook). Yorkton, SK: Waking Image Press, 1988.
- Junkyard of Dreams: poetry (chapbook). Yorkton, SK: Waking Image Press, 1992.
- Dark Halo. Regina, SK: Coteau Books, 1993.
- How Word Travels (chapbook). Yorkton, SK: Waking Image Press, 1999.
- as Steven Michael Berzensky
- Variations on the Birth of Jacob. Winnipeg, MB: Muses Co., 1997.
- The Names Leave the Stones: Poems new and selected. Regina, SK: Coteau Books, 2001. ISBN 978-1-55050-191-9
Mick Burrs reads Kent Bowmans Zen River Memories at Ellingtons Café in Toronto November 21 2009
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[4]
See also[]
References[]
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Daralyn Fauser, Berzensky, Steven M. (Mick Burrs), Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan, Canadian Plains Research Centre, University of Regina, Web, July 1, 2012.
- ↑ Mick Burrs: Real live poet, Head Tale, June 20, 2012. Web, Mar. 31, 2015.
- ↑ Berzensky, Steven Michael, League of Canadian Poets. Web, Mar. 31, 2017.
- ↑ Search results=Mick Burrs, WorldCat, Web, July 1, 2012.
External links[]
- Poems
- Books
- Mick Burrs at Amazon.com
- About
- Berzensky, Steven M. (Mick Burrs) in the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan
- Berzensky, Steven Michael at the League of Canadian Poets
- Preservation in Poetry: An interview with Mick Burrs at Prairie Fire, 2009
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