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M. Bartley Seigel, an associate professor of creative writing and literature at Michigan Tech University, is among five finalists for the position of U.P. Poet Laureate for 2021-23.
HOUGHTON — Ask the average writing student which form of writing they despise most, poetry would likely be on the list. However, ask Michigan Tech associate professor M. Bartley Seigel, and you get a very different answer. For Seigel, poetry has been something he has been working on for longer than even he seems to realize.
“I’ve been a publishing poet for the last, I don’t know, 15 years of my life,” he said. “I had a book of poetry come out back in 2013. I kind of made my bread and butter as a literary magazine editor, and as a teacher of creative writing, but I’ve always been pretty low-key.”