Keith Ratzlaff
 
Keith Ratzlaff was born in the small town of Henderson, Nebraska in 1953. Most of the churches in town represented some form of the Mennonite faith, and the Ratzlaff family belonged to the largest congregation, Bethesda Mennonite Church. He cites his largest influences as family, church, and school: a traditional middle-class American small town upbringing. He credits his mother as his biggest influence in discovering the values of language and reading.

He began writing on his father’s typewriter at the age of six or seven. This time, he explains, was a limited privilege, motivating him to be serious about how he spent it. “I drew pictures of flowers representing every member of my family and then typed a poem that completed the metaphor,” he mentioned when asked about his entrance into the realm of poetry. “I was such a sweet kid,” he said.

Ratzlaff does not recall a specific time when he decided he would write poetry, but simply feels poetry is the writing which he does best. Teachers in both high school and college encouraged him to pursue writing, specifically poetry. At Bethel College in Kansas under Jean Wedel and Bob Regier, Ratzlaff furthered his development as a poet. He continued to pursue his interest in writing at Indiana University, receiving an MFA in creative writing.

In 1970 Ratzlaff's first poems were published in the Mennonite youth magazine With. Since then, Ratzlaff has published several full volumes of poetry and won numerous awards. He received the Anhinga Poetry Prize for his work in Man under a Pear Tree and won the Theodore Roethke Prize in 1996. His poem "Portrait of her Mother as the 19th Century" won a Pushcart Prize in 2007. His other works include Across the Known World (1997) and his most recent, 2005’s Dubious Angels, which contains poems inspired by the work of expressionist artist Paul Klee.

Ratzlaff is currently a professor of English at Central College in Pella, Iowa. When he is not writing or teaching, he enjoys spending time gardening and traveling. He is also an avid Chicago Cubs baseball fan, claiming he tries to never to miss a game on the radio.


Works Cited:

Hostetler, Ann., ed. A Capella: Mennonite Voices in Poetry. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2003.

Ratzlaff, Keith. E-mail Interview. 13 Nov. 2005. 


Ben Noll & Ben Jacobs
benjaminmngoshen.edu & benjaminmjgoshen.edu

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