Poet Marvin Bell, the first Poet Laureate of Iowa, a National Book Award Finalist and professor of literature, died on December 14 in Iowa City, Iowa, Copper Canyon Press reported. Bell was 83.
Over the course of his career Bell wrote more than 20 volumes of poetry. He published his first collection, Things We Dreamt We Died For, in 1966 with the Stone Wall Press. His most recent volume, Incarnate: The Collected Dead Man Poems, was published in 2019. His 1977 collection Stars Which See, Stars Which Do Not See, was a finalist for the National Book Award in Poetry.
His poems were known for "mining the intersection of philosophy and poetry," and they brought "meaning and discovery to daily life." His work featured a recurring character known as the Dead Man, an all-knowing trickster who addresses "the joys as well as the catastrophes of the personal and the political."
Michael Wieger, Bell's editor at Copper Canyon Press for more than 30 years, wrote: "He was one of the first poets I met when I started at the Press, and while I always recognized him as a tremendous and imaginative poet, he was also an unrelenting friend and advocate for poetry. Bell made certain to support the oddball originals and always strived to push poetry forward. I will miss his stories, his trivia and his faithful friendship. The Press is indebted to his generous influence."
Bell taught at the Iowa Writers' Workshop for 40 years and was the Flannery O'Connor Professor of Letters when he retired in 2005. He held a BA from Alfred University, an MA from the University of Chicago and an MFA from the University of Iowa. He was named the state's first ever Poet Laureate in 2000.