Jared Carter

Infobox Writer


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name = Jared Carter
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birthdate = 1939
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occupation = Poet
nationality = American
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movement = Independent
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website = http://www.jaredcarter.com

Jared Carter is a contemporary American poet with particular interests in traditional lyric and narrative poetry and in the geographic and cultural area of the Midwestern United States.

Background

Carter was born on January 10, 1939, in Elwood, Indiana. He studied at Yale and at Goddard College. After military service and travel abroad, he made his home in Indianapolis, where he has lived since 1969. He worked for many years as an editor and interior designer of textbooks and scholarly works, first with the Bobbs-Merrill Company and later in association with Hackett Publishing Company.

Work

Carter writes in free verse and in traditional forms. He also publishes short fiction. His overall subject is the American Midwest—the area between Pittsburgh in the east, Kansas City in the west, the Ohio River and Appalachia to the south, and the Canadian border to the north.

Much of his early work is set in a fictional world called Mississinewa County, an imaginary place that includes the actual Mississinewa River, a tributary of the Wabash River. In recent years, as Carter has published increasingly on the web, his poetry has ranged farther afield.

His first collection, "Work, for the Night Is Coming", won the Walt Whitman Award for 1980. His second, "After the Rain", was given the Poets' Prize for 1994. His fourth, "Cross this Bridge at a Walk," was named [http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/isl/incb/BBI07.htm “Best Poetry Book of Indiana 2007”] by the Indiana State Library.

His poems have appeared in literary journals in the U.S. and abroad and in the anthologies"Twentieth-Century American Poetry," [New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. Compiled by Dana Gioia, David Mason, and Meg Schoerke. ISBN 0072400196 ISBN 9780072400199.] "Contemporary American Poetry," [New York: Penguin Academics Series, 2005. Compiled by R. S. Gwynn and April Lindner. ISBN 0321182820 ISBN 9780321182821.] and "Writing Poems." [New York: Longman, 2004. Compiled by Michelle Boisseau and Robert Wallace. ISBN 0321094239 ISBN 9780321094230.] He received literary fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1981 and 1991, a [http://www.gf.org/82fellow.html Guggenheim Fellowship] in 1982, and the [http://www.in.gov/arts/2591.htm Indiana Governor’s Arts Award] in 1985.

In 2008 Carter's poem "Heart's Forest," which appeared in issue # 38 of [http://www.poetsfreelunch.org/index.htm"Free Lunch"] , received the [http://www.poetsfreelunch.org/awards.htm Rosine Offen Memorial Award] given by the "Free Lunch" Arts Alliance.

His poem [http://www.valpo.edu/english/vpr/carterprophet.html "Prophet Township,"] which first appeared in the "Valparaiso Poetry Review," was selected as one of the best poems published online during the year 2007. It is included in the print anthology "Best of the Web 2008" [Westland, Michigan: Dzanc Books, 2008. Best of the Web Series. Compiled by series editor Nathan Leslie and guest editor Steve Almond. ISBN 978-0-9793123-4-2 ISBN 0-9793123-4-5.] published by Dzanc Books

Excerpts

"I want to know only that things gather themselves"
"with great patience, that they do this forever." ["Geodes," lines 13-14, p. 3, in "Work, for the Night Is Coming."]

"The purpose of poetry is to tell us about life." ["The Purpose of Poetry," line 30, p. 24, in "After the Rain."]

"To improvise, first let your fingers stray."
"Each time you start, expect to lose your way." [ [http://thehypertexts.com/Jared%20Carter%20Poetry%20Picture%20Bio.htm" Improvisation,"] lines 18-19, p. 1, in "Les Barricades Mystérieuses."]

"There's no such thing as control. There's only balance." ["Lost Bridge," line 28, p. 103, in "Cross this Bridge at a Walk."]

"Snow is the horse / that would never dream of running away." [ [http://jaredcarter.com/poems/12/ "Snow,"] lines 20-21.]

Bibliography

* [http://www.newformalistpress.com/ebooks/carter2.html "Time Capsule".] E-book no. 26. Dayton, Washington: New Formalist Press, 2007.
* "Cross this Bridge at a Walk". Nicholasville, Kentucky: Wind Publications, 2006. ISBN 1893239462
* [http://www.newformalistpress.com/ebooks/carter.html "Reading the Tarot: Nine Villanelles".] E-book no. 17. Dayton, Washington: New Formalist Press, 2005.
* "Les Barricades Mystérieuses". Cleveland: Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 1999. ISBN 1880834405
* "After the Rain". Cleveland: Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 1993. ISBN 1880834030
* "Situation Normal". Indianapolis: Writers’ Center Press, 1991.
* "Blues Project". Indianapolis: Writers’ Center Press, 1991. ISBN 1880649276
* "The Shriving". Tuscaloosa, Alabama: Duende Press, 1990.
* "Millennial Harbinger". Philadelphia: Slash & Burn Press, 1986. ISBN 093834501X
* "Pincushion’s Strawberry". Cleveland: Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 1984. ISBN 0914946439
* "Fugue State". Daleville, Indiana: Barnwood Press, 1984. ISBN 0935306161
* "Work, for the Night Is Coming". New York: Macmillan, 1981. ISBN 1880834200
* "Early Warning". Daleville, Indiana: Barnwood Press, 1979.

Relevant studies

* Deines, Timothy J. “The Gleaning: Regionalism, Form, and Theme in the Poetry of Jared Carter.” Master’s thesis, Cleveland State University, 1998.
* “Jared Carter.” "Contemporary Authors ". Vol. 145, pp. 75-76. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.
* Ponick, T. L., and Ponick, F. S. “Jared Carter.” "Dictionary of Literary Biography". Vol. 282, pp. 31-40. Detroit: Gale Research, 2003.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.jaredcarter.com Official web site] of "Jared Carter Poetry"
* [http://www.linkagenet.com/themes/modulation.htm Literary criticism,] “Modulation and the Poetry of the Indiana Writer Jared Carter,” at Paul Hurt's "Linkagenet"
* [http://poetry.poetryx.com/poets/7/ Poems] at "Poetry X"
* [http://thehypertexts.com/Jared%20Carter%20Poetry%20Picture%20Bio.htm Poems] at "The HyperTexts"
* [http://www.thescreamonline.com/poetry/poetry5-1/carter/index.html Poems] at "The Scream Online"
* [http://www.archipelago.org/vol10-12/carter.htm Poems] at "Archipelago"
* [http://csonnet.com/ Poems] at "Contemporary Sonnet"
* [http://www.valpo.edu/english/vpr/carterinterview.html Interview] at "Valparaiso Poetry Review"
* [http://theformalist.org/article.php?story=20080530130639463 Interview] at "The Formalist Portal"
* [http://home.earthlink.net/~centrifugaleye/id38.html Interview] at "Centrifugal Eye"
* [http://www.shattercolors.com/interviews/author_carter.htm Interview] at "ShatterColors Literary Review"