Stanley Kunitz

poet laureate 1974 - 1976 and 2000 - 2001

One of Stanley Kunitz's greatest loves was gardening. "It's the way things are," he once said, "death and life inextricably bound to each other. One of my feelings about working the land is that I am celebrating a ritual of death and resurrection. Every spring I feel that. I am never closer to the miraculous than when I am grubbing in the soil." Kunitz was 99 years old when he published his last book in 2005. He died the following year. He received many awards for his poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the Robert Frost Medal. He also served two terms as US poet laureate (1974-76 and 2000-01), as well as New York state poet laureate (1987-89). Kunitz lived, worked, and gardened for many summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts.