Poet David Ruekberg: Writing, what influences his work, and semi-retirement

David Ruekberg has been drawing and writing poetry since he was a kid, but got more serious about it after attending classes at Writers & Books. His first instructor was Mark Nowak, who was big on writing produced by a homemade random number generator, and which is where he first met Thom Ward. He then took a few classes from Thom, where he met several other poets, including Charlie Cote, Lee McAvoy, and Bob Drojarski, with whom he formed a writing group called the Potluck Poets. He went on to earn his MFA from the Warren Wilson College low-residency program, and enjoyed a month-long writing residency at Jentel Arts in Wyoming. Poems have appeared in Barrow Street, Borderlands, Rochester's Lake Affect and Penn State's Lake Effect, North American Review, Poet Lore, and elsewhere. He taught English in private schools for 5 years and at Hilton High School for 27 years before his retirement in June, 2019. He is married to the storyteller, writing instructor, and massage therapist, Leah Ruekberg. He also enjoys gardening, hiking, cooking, family, drawing and painting, and fighting climate change. His first collection, Where Is the River Called Pishon? was published by Kelsay Books in August, 2018. His second manuscript, Hour of the Green Light, was semi-finalist in the 18th Annual Elixir Press Poetry Award, and will be published by FutureCycle Press in 2021. Read more at https://poetry.ruekberg.com.