Walter Bargen has published thirteen books of poetry and two chapbooks of poetry.  His four most recent books are, The Feast (BkMk Press-UMKC, 2004),

            which was awarded the 2005 William Rockhill Nelson Award, Remedies for Vertigo (WordTech Communications, 2006), West of West (Timberline Press, 2007),

            and Theban Traffic (WordTech Communications, 2008),  Days Like This Are Necessary (BkMk Press-UMKC 2009).  His poems have recently appeared in the

            Beloit Poetry Journal, Poetry East, River Styx, Seattle Review, and New Letters. He was the winner of the Chester H. Jones Foundation prize in 1997,

            a National Endowment for the Art Fellowship in 1991, and the William Rockhill Nelson Award in 2005. In 2008, he was appointed to be the first poet laureate of Missouri.

            He lives in Ashland, Missouri.  www.walterbargen.com