Rodney Torreson

Poet Rodney Torreson grew up on an Iowa farm, and his plainspoken yet mystical poems draw on the landscapes and traditions of the Midwest. He earned MFA from Western Michigan University, and his poetry collections include The Jukebox Was the Jury of Their Love (2019), A Breathable Light (2002), and The Ripening of Pinstripes: Called Shots on the New York Yankees (1998).

The former poet laureate of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Torreson has won the Seattle Review’s Bentley Prize, and his poems have been featured in former US poet laureate Ted Kooser’s syndicated newspaper column “American Life in Poetry.” Torreson lives in Grand Rapids, where he taught creative writing at Immanuel St. James Lutheran School for 32 years. In 2007, he created the online youth poetry journal Through the Third Eye.