Draft:Greg Watson

• Comment: gregwatsonpoet.com/awards is not a reliable source to establish that the subject won awards. Utopes _{(talk / cont)} 05:01, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

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Greg Watson
File:Greg Watson Author Headshot, 2022
Born	Gregory Watson November 1, 1970 (age 53) Saint Paul, Minnesota
Children	Daughter (b. 2015)
Parents	Ted A. Natus (b. 1939) (father) Ruby Kay Watson (b. 1939 Tennessee) (mother)
Website	gregwatsonpoet.com

Greg Watson (born November 1, 1970) is an award-winning American poet of Finnish descent. Greg Watson's poetry has appeared widely in literary publications; including The Writer's Almanac, Modern Poetry Review, The Seattle Review, Sulphur River Literary Review, and Scapegoat Review. To date, Greg Watson has published eleven books of poetry.

Early life and education

When Greg was very young his mother attempted suicide. Greg and his half-siblings were placed into foster care; Greg and his older brother were kept together. Greg was later returned to his mother’s care.

Greg met his father briefly at the age of ten when his mother petitioned for child support. At the age of 33, he met his father again; which he describes in his poem ‘Second Meeting With My Father' published in his collection 'Stars Unseen.’

Greg’s family moved often due to poverty. Sometimes staying with family or friends of friends. Greg’s childhood was always very uncertain; which caused Greg to become withdrawn. He was the perpetual ‘new kid’ in school and learned to keep to himself.

When Greg was 14, his mother sent him to stay with relatives out of state. He was sent back to his mother at age 15. At 17, his mother kicked him out. Greg found an apartment and a full-time job prior to beginning his senior year in high school. Greg managed to graduate high school; the only person in his immediate family to do so.

Career

High school is where Greg began writing poetry. He wrote only for himself in those early years.

In 1998, Greg won the ‘Blood & Feathers’ Chapbook contest with his submission ‘Open Door, Open Wall.’ The publication of 'Open Door, Open Wall' by Malevolence Publishers was his first published work. He has published another 2 chapbooks and 9 full-length poetry collections since.

Greg Watson has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Greg recently stated: “I can’t imagine a life without writing poems. Poetry has been, and continues to be, a life raft. It is not hyperbole to say that poetry has saved my life. When I write, I am giving back as best I can to the thing that has given so much to me.”

Style

Watson’s themes are often grounded in the pain of real life. Common subject matters include loss, grief, longing, and abandonment.

“I am not interested in being overly clever or ironic with my poems. I write about love and death, the multi-generational trauma within families, the Finnish-American experience of my ancestors, and being a single father in a violent, dangerous, and uncertain age,” says Watson.

Connie Wanek noted in her review of 'Things You Will Never See Again': “In an era when readers’ patience is often tested by baggy narrative poetry, it’s refreshing to read poems that move directly toward an essential conclusion.”

Bibliography

Poetry Collections, Author

• 2024 Stars Unseen ISBN 978-1666406917
• 2024 The Days Between ISBN 978-1639806379
• 2022 The Sound of Light ISBN 978-0982933527
• 2021 Pale Light from a Distant Room ISBN 979-8570500174
• 2015 All the World at Once ISBN 978-1935666745
• 2011 What Music Remains ISBN 978-1935666219
• 2008 The Distance Between Two Hands ISBN 979-8703002360
• 2006 Things You Will Never See Again ISBN 979-8657727524
• 2001 Cold Water Memory ISBN 979-8598162538

Chapbooks, Author

• 1998 Open Door, Open Wall ISBN 979-8681904427
• 2000 Annmarie Revisions ISBN 979-8695018462
• 2021 Twenty-One Postcards ASIN B08WHFNQ2X

Poetry Anthology, Co-Editor and Contributing Author

• 2018 The Road by Heart: Poems of Fatherhood ISBN 978-1947237094

Poetry Anthologies and Almanacs, Contributing Author

• 2024 Little by Little, the Bird Builds Its Nest
• 2024 Fantastic Imaginary Creatures ISBN 978-1956440812
• 2023 Nerve Cowboy: Selected Works 1996-2004
• 2021 This Was 2020: Minnesotans Write About Pandemics and Social Justice in a Historic Year ISBN 978-1087967622
• 2019 Saint Paul Almanac: Resistance and Resilience (Volume 12)
• 2018 The Road by Heart: Poems of Fatherhood ISBN 978-1947237094
• 2016 It Starts with Hope: Writing and images of hope donated to the Center for Victims of Torture ISBN 978-1935666899
• 2013 The Wind Blows, The Ice Breaks: Poems of Loss and Renewal by Minnesota Poets ISBN 978-1935666004
• 2007 What Light: A poetry anthology from mnartists.org ASIN B06X95QP9C

Achievements and recognitions

• 2025 Minnesota State Arts Board grants Advisor
• 2024 Nominee for the McKnight Foundation distinguished artist award
• 2023 Nominee for the Best of the Net Anthology for the poem 'Baptism'
• 2022 Nominee for the 48th Annual Pushcart Prize Anthology for the poem 'Candy Cigarettes'
• 2021 Nominee for the 47th Annual Pushcart Prize Anthology for the poem 'Kabul'
• 2021 Nominee for the Best of the Net Anthology for the poem 'The Transfer'
• Winner of the 1998 'Blood & Feathers' Chapbook Series Contest

Personal life

In 2003, Greg’s brother Mark Allen Cole was murdered. The book 'Things You Will Never See Again' is dedicated to his memory.

In 2015, Greg’s daughter was born. Becoming a father gave him both unconditional love for someone else, and a sense of purpose.

Currently, Greg is working on a series of grief and remembrance poems for the woman he lived with for over a decade in his youth. In 2024, she died suddenly at the age of 55.