A university staple for 34 years, he directed SMSU’s creative writing program and founded annual

international literary festival

MARSHALL – Prolific poet and emeritus professor of English and creative writing at Southwest Minnesota State University Philip Dacey died July 7 at 77 after a nearly two-year battle with acute leukemia.

Dacey was the author of more than a dozen books of poetry and numerous chapbooks. He also had hundreds of his poems published in journals and magazines, and he co-edited a noted anthology.

He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and received his education from St. Louis University, Stanford University and the University of Iowa. Between 1963-1966, he volunteered in the Peace Corps in Nigeria and taught at Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama.

In 1970, Dacey came to SMSU. During his 34 years there, he directed the creative writing program and founded an annual literary festival on campus. He retired in 2004 and lived for eight years on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He then returned to Minnesota to live on Lake Calhoun.

“Phil was a dear friend,” said SMSU English professor Marianne Zarzana. “He’s a brilliant poet, and he was someone I could count on for honest, genuine feedback. He left a great legacy here at SMSU.”

Dacey was a gifted teacher and an incredibly prolific poet, Zarzana said.

According to a news release, Dacey preferred to “describe himself as a ‘scribbler’ in a ‘permanent apprenticeship’ to poetry.” Dacey wrote 13 collections, with the most recent being “Church of the Adagio” in 2014. Dacey has won three Pushcart Prizes and published collections on Walt Whitman and Gerard Manly Hopkins, Thomas Eakins and New York City.

According to the news release, as a poet, Dacey was “recognized for exploring multiple forms and voices.” The Oxford Companion to United States History in 2001 named him, alongside Adrienne Rich, Billy Collins, William Stafford and others, as one of the “outstanding poets” of the late 20th century “whose work does not fall conveniently into a specific ‘school’ or category.”

“His poetry had such a broad range,” Zarzana said. Dacey’s poetry was funny, bawdy, historical, she said. “He had such humility. He just did his craft.”

And what a performer he was, Zarzana said.

“I’ve never seen a poet who could perform as he did,” Zarzana said. Dacey also memorized his works as well, she said. “He made it come to life.”

Zarzana said she submitted a proposal to have a Phil Dacey tribute panel at the upcoming Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference in Washington, D.C. She noted that Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Stephen Dunn had turned down other panels to serve on the tribute one.

“He said, ‘I’ll do this for Phil,'” Zarzana said. Others who will be on the panel, include David Jauss and SMSU English professor Susan McLean.

Per Dacey’s wishes, there will be no immediate service or memorial, but the publication of a forthcoming book, “The Ice Cream Vigils: Last Poems,” will serve as a gathering and forum for remembrance. Dacey desired that any memorial donations be made in his name to The Nation magazine.

“I hope more people discover Phil’s poetry,” Zarzana said.

Dacey lived every day fully, Zarzana said, and there were wonderful times had toward the end – laughing, telling stories and writing poems.

“I feel his presence very strongly,” Zarzana said.