John Koethe

Andrew Yaphe, writing in the Chicago Review, hailed Koethe as being "widely recognized as one of our foremost Romantic poets, an inheritor of the tradition of Stevens and Ashbery." And Prof. Bill Olsen of Western Michigan University prefixed a January 2005 public reading by Koethe by stating: "Reading or hearing a John Koethe poem is like listening to yourself – like hearing parts of your own consciousness for the first time."

In addition to the work listed in the bibliography below, Koethe has also contributed poetry and essays to several publications including Poetry, Paris Review, Quarterly Review of Literature, Parnassus, and Art News. His work has been included in anthologies of poetry, including The Best American Poetry (2003). Additionally, he was selected to contribute his views on contemporary poetry for the book Ecstatic Occasions, Expedient Forms, which billed him as one of "85 leading contemporary poets."

In February 2000, Koethe was named the first poet laureate for the city of Milwaukee, for which he received a $2,500 honorarium over two years. When asked in an interview what being the poet laureate required, Koethe replied: "I was the first one, and no one was quite sure what exactly I was supposed to do. The Friends of the Library oversaw the position, so together, we just sort of made it up. I read Dr. Seuss to some kids, gave a poetry reading, read a poem to The Common Council. I also introduced four writers at Centennial Hall: two fiction writers, Martha Berglund and C.J. Hribal, and two poets Susan Firer and Lisa Samuels."

John Koethe (born December 25, 1945) is an American poet, essayist and professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.