Steven Michael Berzensky (also known as Mick Burrs) is a poetry enthusiast. With six books, 24 chapbooks, and over 700 poems published thus far--as well as inclusion in more than 40 anthologies of poetry and fiction--he is still at the beginning of his career. A former editor of Grain literary magazine and founder of the Annual Short Grain Contest, as well as a columnist on "Poetry Matters" for FreeLance (Sask Writers Guild), he continuously encourages others to read, write, and appreciate poetic values. He currently resides in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. (Author photo by Hugh Mullin.)
Awards
Winner, 1998 Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry (Variations on the
Birth of Jacob)
Finalist, 1994 People's Poetry Award (Dark Halo)
Co-Winner, 1983 Saskatchewan Writers Guild Poetry Manuscript Competition (The Blue Pools of Paradise)
Saskatchewan Writers Guild Literary Competition.
Various prizes in poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and drama, 1974-1996.
Selected Publications
The Names Leave the Stones: Poems New and Selected (Coteau, 2001) ISBN 1-55050-191-7
Variations on the Birth of Jacob. (J. Gordon Shillingford,The Muses' Company, 1997) ISBN 1-896239-25-0
Moving In From Paradise. (Coteau Books, 1976).
Children on the Edge of Space. (Blue Mountain, 1977).
Gold Rays (songs, cassette), 1982.
The Blue Pools of Paradise. (Coteau Books, 1983).
We Dream Alone (instrumental, cassette), 1991.
Dark Halo. (Coteau Books, 1993).
Variations on the Birth of Jacob. (The Muses Co., 1997).
Rainbows in the Dark. (Waking Image Press, 1998).
East Meets West (poetry audiotape, with Ted Plantos), 1996.
The Silence of Horizons. (Waking Image Press, 1996).
Moving In From Paradise. (Coteau, 1976) ISBN 0-919926-02-9
Selected Anthologies
The Flat Earth Excavation Company. (New Orphic, 2002)
A Sudden Radiance. (Coteau Books, 1987).
Tesseracts 4. (Beach Holme Publishers, 1992).
Our Fathers. (Rowan Books, 1995).
Books in Print
Berzensky, Steven Michael
The Names Leave the Stones: Poems New and Selected, Poetry, (Coteau, 2001) ISBN 1-55050-191-7, $16.95
Variations on the Birth of Jacob. Poetry (J. Gordon Shillingford,The Muses' Company, 1997) ISBN 1-896239-25-0, $12.95
Steven Michael Berzensky (Mick Burrs) PO Box 30003- 1938 Bloor St. W., Toronto, ON M6P 4J2
phone: 416-536-2484
Berzensky (also known as Mick Burrs) has published over 700 poems, 24 chapbooks, and six books of poetry. He has written award-winning one act plays and short stories, produced two music tapes featuring his own compositions, and illustrated the covers of books for Thistledown Press and the Muses' Company. His fifth book, Variations on the Birth of Jacob, won the Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry in 1998. His latest collection, The Names Leave the Stones: Poems New and Selected, was published by Coteau in Fall, 2001. He is a former editor of Grain literary magazine (1988-90) and is the founder of the Annual Short Grain Contest. Among many writing projects, he is currently working on a collection of Liberated Sonnets; a manuscript called Poetry Matters, based on his monthly column for FreeLance magazine; and a surreal gathering of Dream Stories (speculative fiction). He resides in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, where he served as Writer in Residence in 1985-86. He makes annual visits to Ontario.
Grade Levels: 7-12
Fees: standard
Classroom Approach:
I like to teach students (especially in the higher grades, 9-12) that poetry is nothing to be frightened of nor intimidated by. My approach is user-friendly and highlights how poetry can serve many purposes. As a reader or a writer, a student can enjoy poetry for its personal expressiveness, its concrete imagery or abstract statements, its rhythmic
patterns, its word play and sound effects, its romantic impulses, its social commentaries, its satirical or critical viewpoints, its humorous
elements, and so forth. My reading from my own poems serves to demonstrate the wide range of poetry possible for students to explore in their own
writing. When the class is small enough (say less than 20 students), they each learn to experience their own individual uses of metaphor by my giving
them a special Riddle Poem Exercise. This is followed by my reading aloud their riddle poems and commenting positively on them, something all classes enjoy immensely.