Unexpected Shiny Things
Bruce Dethlefsen was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1948 and moved to Wisconsin in 1966.  He is Wisconsin Poet Laureate for 2011/2012, under the sponsorship of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters.  Previous collections include two chapbooks, A Decent Reed (Tamafyr Mountain Press, 1999) and Something Near the Dance Floor (Marsh River Editions, 2003).  Breather (Fireweed Press, 2009), his first full-length book, received an Outstanding Achievement Award in Poetry from the Wisconsin Library Association. Twice-nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Bruce’s poems have been featured on Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac and Your Daily Poem, where he was Poet-of-the-Month.  Bruce also performs original music with Bill Orth as Obvious Dog on Cathryn Cofell’s CD, Lip. His son, Nathan, lives in West Salem, Wisconsin. His other son, Wilson, died in a moped accident in June, 2010. A retired educator and public library director, Bruce lives with his partner of twenty years, Sue Rose Allen, in Westfield, Wisconsin. He still believes the flying dreams are the best.