All poets who write for enough years begin to long for a new voice or a new style.  The push to attain something new is usually a failure, which is why most poets move into their later years simply repeating themselves.  Hoping to avoid this dilemma, I gave up poetry at the turn of the millennium and focused exclusively on fiction (particularly the novel) and nonfiction.  I'm happy to let the poetry I wrote during the last 30 years of the 20th Century stand on its own, without further additions.

• Poetry Prize (Best Book of Poetry in 2002), Society of Midland Authors, April 2003.
• First Place, Column Writing, Iowa Associated Press Managing Editors Organization,1999.
• First Place, Master Columnist, Iowa Newspaper Association, April 24, 1998.
• Union League Civic and Arts Poetry Prize from Poetry, 1996.
• Nominated for Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1993, and 1992.
• "Plagiarism and Silence," named a "Notable Essay of 1994" by Robert Atwan for The Best American Essays: 1995, edited by Jamaica Kincaid.
• Frederick Bock Prize from Poetry, 1991.
• First Prize for the best poem published in Yankee magazine, 1990.
• National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship ($20,000), 1989.
• First Place Poetry Prize ($1,000), Iowa Arts Council's Literary Awards Competition, 1989.