Life

He flunked out of college, and worked in a steel mill.
From 1954 to 1955 Zimmer served in the United States Army as a journalist. The Ribs of Death, his first book, was published in 1967.
He received a Bachelor of Arts and Science

Bachelor of Arts and Science

Bachelor of Arts and Science is an undergraduate bachelor's degree given by a small number of American universities and a fair number of universities in other English-speaking countries . Generally, to receive a B.A.S...

 degree from Kent State University

Kent State University

Kent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...

 in 1968.

He has directed the university presses at Georgia, Iowa, and Pittsburgh, and helped found the Pitt Poetry Series

Pitt Poetry Series

The Pitt Poetry Series, published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, is one of the largest and best known lists of contemporary American poetry.-History:...

.
His papers are held at Kent State.

Awards

• Open Book Award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors
  American Society of Journalists and Authors
  The American Society of Journalists and Authors was founded in 1948 as the Society of Magazine Writers, and is an organization of independent nonfiction writers in the United States...
  
  
• American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
• 1998 National Poetry Series
  National Poetry Series
  The National Poetry Series is an American literary awards program.Every year since 1979 it has sponsored the publication of five books of poetry...
  
  , for The Great Bird of Love
• Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Arts and Sciences at Kent State University
  Kent State University
  Kent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...
  
  in 2004.
• Two NEA fellowships
• Helen Bullis Memorial Award
• Two Pushcart Prizes

Works

• The Ribs of Death, October House, 1967
• The Republic of Many Voices, October House, 1969
• A Seed in the Wind, Three Rivers Press, C.M.U., 1975
• Family Reunion: Selected and New Poems (1983)
• The Great Bird of Love (1989)

Reviews

t is not often that a “new and selected” documents the progressions, departures, and returns of a writer’s consciousness as lucidly and profoundly as Paul Zimmer’s Crossing to Sunlight Revisited (the long-awaited sequel to 1996’s Crossing to Sunlight: Selected Poems). Zimmer’s newer poems are at the start of the book; they chronicle his ascension into, what seems to be, comfortable old age. Note that “old” is not my word here; in fact, in his preface, Zimmer informs us that he is “no longer an aging poet or an older poet.” He says, “I am an old poet.”

External links