The Creative Writing Program and the Department of English remember our friend and colleague, Patricia Goedicke, who passed away in August of 2006. Through her poetry, her teaching, and her life, Patricia, who taught poetry at U .M. from 1981-2006, was an inspiration to countless students and community members. She is the author of 12 books of poetry, the most recent of which, As Earth Begins to End, (Copper Canyon, 2000), was chosen by the American Library Association as one of its top ten poetry books of the year. Other books include Invisible Horses, Paul Bunyan’s Bearskin, The Tongues We Speak, (a New York Times "Notable Book of the Year" selection), The Wind of Our Going, Crossing the Same River, The Dog that was Barking Yesterday, The Trail that Turns on Itself, and Between Oceans. She received many awards, among them the Chad Walsh Poetry Award for a poem published in the Summer 2002 issue of The Beloit Poetry Journal, the H.G. Merriam Award for distinguished contribution to the state's literature by a Montana author, the Ohioana Poetry Award for a body of work by a poet who has resided in Ohio for at least five years, a Rockefeller Foundation Residency at its Villa Serbelloni, in Bellagio, Italy, various awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Pushcart Prize, the William Carlos Williams Prize from New Letters, etc. She is also a Distinguished Alumna of Ohio University and a Distinguished Scholar of the University of Montana. Besides the University of Montana, she has taught poetry at Sarah Lawrence College, Ohio University, Hunter College, Kalamazoo College, and The University of Guanajuato in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where she lived for many years before returning to the United States. Reviews of her work have appeared in The New York Times, The American Poetry Review, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, The London Times Literary Supplement, The Boston Book Review, The Hudson Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, etc. She has given and continues to give many readings and workshops across the country and abroad. Some of her most recent poems may be found in such journals as The Denver Quarterly, The Hudson Review, Alaska Quarterly, Volt, and The Yale Review.
A memorial scholarship fund has been established in Goedicke's name at the University. Those who would like to contribute may do so by sending a check to the U.M. Foundation, P.O. Box 7159, Missoula, MT 59807-7159. Please note "in memory of Patricia Goedicke" on all donations.