Michael Meyerhofer
Encyclopedia
Michael Meyerhofer is a contemporary poet and fiction writer. He was born in Iowa in 1977, received his Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Iowa
in 2000, and his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Southern Illinois University Carbondale
in 2006. He currently teaches at Ball State University
.
Meyerhofer’s second book of poems, Blue Collar Eulogies, was published by Steel Toe Books in 2009. The book won the praise of poets George Bilgere
and Dorianne Laux
. Said Bilgere, “Meyerhofer’s tough, lovely poems remind us that the aim of being human… is to rise above ourselves, to take this sorry predicament and turn it into something shining and valuable.” Added Laux, “I like these poems, kinetic and half-crazed, they remind me that poetry is an explosion, that energy plus mass equals a dark magic.”
Meyerhofer has also published four poetry chapbooks, all through contests. His first, Cardboard Urn, won the Copperdome Chapbook Contest from Southeast Missouri State University Press in 2005. His second, The Right Madness of Beggars, won the 3rd Annual Uccelli Press Chapbook Competition from Uccelli Press in 2006. His third, Real Courage, won the Terminus Magazine and Jeanne Duval Editions Poetry Chapbook Prize in 2007. His fourth, The Clay-Shaper’s Husband, won the Codhill Press Chapbook Award from Codhill Press in 2008.
Meyerhofer has also won numerous other poetry awards, including the Annie Finch Prize for Poetry from National Poetry Review in 2006, the James Wright Poetry Award from Mid-American Review
in 2006, the Laureate Prize for Poetry (also from National Poetry Review) in 2007, and the Marjorie J. Wilson Best Poem Contest from MARGIE in 2009.
Meyerhofer’s work has also been praised by other poets, including Thomas Lux
and Djelloul Marbrook
. Said Thomas Lux, “Sometimes, Michael Meyerhofer’s poems are excruciatingly tender, the next moment (or poem) blistering satire, the next walk-into-a-wall funny. The one thing that’s predictable about his poems is that they are unpredictable. I think it’s almost time for the poets of my generation to start picking out chairs on the rest home porch. There’s a whole new generation coming up, and they mean business, and Meyerhofer is one of them. I will read every word he writes until I can read no more.” Said Marbrook, “…Meyerhofer is always the poet who sees what we don’t want to see precisely when we least want to see it. If there is a thing to be said that decorum would rather skirt, he is going to say it, and yet, curiously, he is not a poet you have to be up to. He comes upon you like weather.”
Meyerhofer’s poems have appeared in nationally recognized journals like Ploughshares
, Rosebud, Atlanta Review, North American Review, Modern Haiku and Verse Daily.
, Sentence, Planet Magazine
, Absent Willow Review, Scythe Literary Review and other journals. He also published speculative fiction novellas.
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
in 2000, and his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a public research university located in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1869, SIUC is the flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system...
in 2006. He currently teaches at Ball State University
Ball State University
Ball State University is a state-run research university located in Muncie, Indiana. It is also known as Ball State or simply BSU.Located on the northwest side of the city, Ball State's campus spans and includes 106 buildings...
.
Poetry Publications
Meyerhofer’s first book of poems, Leaving Iowa, won the Liam Rector First Book Award from Briery Creek Press in 2006. The book was hailed by notable poets and critics including Rodney Jones, Allison Joseph, and Karen Craigo. Said Rodney Jones: “Meyerhofer has the inner resources and the craft to address worlds imagined and ideal, but he insists on writing chiefly of this one, and he does it fearlessly, making neither warmth nor anger…. He reminds me of a young James Wright. He reveals the heart as do few other poets who have suffered an education.” Joseph called Leaving Iowa “…the start of a career that will mean much to those readers of poetry in search of a writer who will never falter in telling them the hard yet gorgeous truths of life.” Said Craigo, “What is striking about [Leaving Iowa] is its unabashed confessionalism. But it is confessionalism that has an effect on the reader—not just the effect of catharsis for the writer, like so many poems that tread into personal black waters.”Meyerhofer’s second book of poems, Blue Collar Eulogies, was published by Steel Toe Books in 2009. The book won the praise of poets George Bilgere
George Bilgere
George Bilgere is an American poet.He grew up in Riverside, California, and earned his BA at the University of California, Riverside. He received his MA in English Literature from Washington University in St. Louis and earned a Ph.D...
and Dorianne Laux
Dorianne Laux
Dorianne Laux is an American poet.-Biography:Laux worked as a sanatorium cook, a gas station manager, and a maid before receiving a B.A. in English from Mills College in 1988. Laux taught at the University of Oregon...
. Said Bilgere, “Meyerhofer’s tough, lovely poems remind us that the aim of being human… is to rise above ourselves, to take this sorry predicament and turn it into something shining and valuable.” Added Laux, “I like these poems, kinetic and half-crazed, they remind me that poetry is an explosion, that energy plus mass equals a dark magic.”
Meyerhofer has also published four poetry chapbooks, all through contests. His first, Cardboard Urn, won the Copperdome Chapbook Contest from Southeast Missouri State University Press in 2005. His second, The Right Madness of Beggars, won the 3rd Annual Uccelli Press Chapbook Competition from Uccelli Press in 2006. His third, Real Courage, won the Terminus Magazine and Jeanne Duval Editions Poetry Chapbook Prize in 2007. His fourth, The Clay-Shaper’s Husband, won the Codhill Press Chapbook Award from Codhill Press in 2008.
Meyerhofer has also won numerous other poetry awards, including the Annie Finch Prize for Poetry from National Poetry Review in 2006, the James Wright Poetry Award from Mid-American Review
Mid-American Review
Mid-American Review is an international literary journal dedicated to publishing contemporary fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and translations. Founded in 1981, MAR is a publication of the Department of English and the College of Arts & Sciences at Bowling Green State University...
in 2006, the Laureate Prize for Poetry (also from National Poetry Review) in 2007, and the Marjorie J. Wilson Best Poem Contest from MARGIE in 2009.
Meyerhofer’s work has also been praised by other poets, including Thomas Lux
Thomas Lux
-Biography:Thomas Lux was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, son of a milkman and a Sears & Roebuck switchboard operator, neither of whom graduated from high school. Lux was raised in Massachusetts on a dairy farm. He was, according to those who knew him in high school, very good at baseball,...
and Djelloul Marbrook
Djelloul Marbrook
Djelloul Marbrook is a contemporary English language American poet and writer. He grew up in Brooklyn, West Islip, and Manhattan, where he attended and Columbia University. He worked as a soda jerk, newspaper vendor, messenger, theater and nightclub concessionaire, and served in the U.S...
. Said Thomas Lux, “Sometimes, Michael Meyerhofer’s poems are excruciatingly tender, the next moment (or poem) blistering satire, the next walk-into-a-wall funny. The one thing that’s predictable about his poems is that they are unpredictable. I think it’s almost time for the poets of my generation to start picking out chairs on the rest home porch. There’s a whole new generation coming up, and they mean business, and Meyerhofer is one of them. I will read every word he writes until I can read no more.” Said Marbrook, “…Meyerhofer is always the poet who sees what we don’t want to see precisely when we least want to see it. If there is a thing to be said that decorum would rather skirt, he is going to say it, and yet, curiously, he is not a poet you have to be up to. He comes upon you like weather.”
Meyerhofer’s poems have appeared in nationally recognized journals like Ploughshares
Ploughshares
Ploughshares is an American literary magazine founded in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, Ploughshares has been based at Emerson College in the heart of Boston...
, Rosebud, Atlanta Review, North American Review, Modern Haiku and Verse Daily.
Fiction Publications
Meyerhofer has also published science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction pieces in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Quick FictionQuick Fiction
Quick Fiction is a contemporary bi-annual literary magazine published in the United States. The journal's publishing focus is on the narrative prose poem/flash fiction, and they have proven instrumental in providing both newer and veteran writers the opportunity to showcase their work...
, Sentence, Planet Magazine
Planet Magazine
Planet Magazine is a free American online fantasy and science fiction magazine by emerging writers and digital artists. It was one of the first illustrated SF publications on the Internet, and has been continuously published since the January–March issue of 1994.Planet was originally published as a...
, Absent Willow Review, Scythe Literary Review and other journals. He also published speculative fiction novellas.