Undivided Attention

Milton J. Bates earned a doctorate in English at the University of California, Berkeley and taught for thirty-five years, first at Williams College, then at Marquette University.

His scholarly books include Wallace Stevens: A Mythology of Self (University of California Press, 1985), editions of Stevens’s uncollected writings and notebooks, and The Wars We Took to Vietnam: Cultural Conflict and Storytelling (University of California Press, 1996). He was appointed a Guggenheim Fellow (1989) and a Fulbright lecturer in China (2000) and Spain (2006).

Since retiring, he has published The Bark River Chronicles: Stories from a Wisconsin Watershed (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2012), the poetry collection Stand Still in the Light (Finishing Line Press, 2019), and two poetry chapbooks, Always on Fire (Five Oaks Press, 2016) and As They Were (YellowJacket Press), runner-up for the 2018 Peter Meinke Poetry Prize.

He lives with his wife in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where they enjoy the region’s year-round outdoor activities.

Also available on Kindle

Paperback: 98 pages
Publisher: Kelsay Books (May 11, 2025)