formal mastery, and spiritual inquisitiveness ... His poems are notable and noble in their craft, heart, and panoramic gaze. For a half-century now, he has written poems with one foot in the Romantic tradition and the other firmly planted in our modern predicament ... One hopes this representative gathering of poems old and recent will allow a new generation of readers to discover Ben Howard's lush wisdom—a wisdom rooted in the poetic tradition and attuned to our fraught young century." In his review of Leaf, Sunlight, Asphalt, Howard's fifth collection of poems, Ray Olson observes that the author "manages iambs as well as anyone since Christopher Marlowe ... Few other contemporary poets make ordinary living seem as rich and rewarding." (Booklist, 35, January 1 & 15, 2010). Reviewing Dark Pool, Howard's fifth collection of poems, for Booklist, Ray Olson notes that Howard "writes just about the most natural, musical iambic line around these days, primarily in a propulsive, precise, and vocal blank verse but also in sonnets, quatrains, and unrhymed forms. It's as seductive of the inner ear as Irish storytelling is of the outer, gently drawing attention to large, subtle meanings." Reviewing Midcentury for Irish Echo, Michael Stephens remarks that Howard's verse is "elegant, elegiac, casual yet moving," and he likens the structure of the book to "a great symphony, the kind that, moment to moment, is intimate, and yet its overall reach is almost beyond human grasp." Awards NEA Fellowship in Creative Writing Milton Dorfman Prize in Poetry Theodore Christian Hoepfner Award References External links http://www.howardbw.com Ben Howard's website Alfred University : College of Liberal Arts and Sciences : Performing Arts : Faculty Profiles : Ben Howard National Resources Defense Council Podcast of Ben Howard reading his poem "Irondequoit, Oswego, Canisteo" https://web.archive.org/web/20120405070839/http://preview.poetryfoundation.org/search/?q=ben+howard http://www.poetrynw.org/adam-tavel-let-those-sparks-arise/ http://www.practiceofzen.com''' One Time, One Meeting 1944 births American essayists American male poets Alfred University faculty American literary critics Living people American male essayists