Literary Arts is saddened to hear of Vern Rutsala’s passing. Rutsala was a nationally recognized poet, the 2014 recipient of the CES Wood Award for an “enduring and substantial career”, and a friend to our organization. Rutsala won the Stafford/Hall Award for poetry in 1992 for his Selected Poems, and was a finalist in 1987, 2005, and 2006.
Donald Justice once said of his work, “There is one way in particular in which Vern Rutsala could and in my view should be an example to us all, an example of how to put to maximum use the simplest things in our lives.”
Our thoughts are with his friends and family.
