"Barton Sutter is so thoroughly a Minnesota Scandinavian—with the usual streak of curmudgeonly pessimism—that he becomes something larger, a type of American artist and culture maker, an emblem of us at our best." - Bill Holm, American poet, essayist, and musician
Barton Sutter is a quintessential Minnesota Poet. Photo submitted.
Whether he is paddling on a tranquil lake, hiking a deserted country trail, describing an impending blizzard, or facing his own mortality, Barton Sutter’s reflections on nature and life are immortalized in his eloquent, soul-touching poems.
As the son of a Lutheran minister, Sutter grew up learning the poetry of the scripture and the sermon. Graduating from Southwest Minnesota State University in 1972 with a B.A. in language arts, he went on to earn his M.A. in creative writing from Syracuse University in 1975.
Working as a printer for a decade, he then started to make a living as a freelance writer and part-time and full-time instructor at St. John’s University; the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; the University of Minnesota, Duluth; and at the University of Wisconsin, Superior.
He has written eleven books, including poetry collections, essays, and short fiction. The only writer to win the Minnesota Book Award in three different categories, he received the award for poetry with The Book of Names; for fiction with My Father’s War and Other Stories; and for creative non-fiction with Cold Comfort: Life at the Top of the Map.
He has also written plays that have been produced by the Great American History Theater in St. Paul, locally by Rubber Chicken Theater, and at Southwest Minnesota State University.
Rose Arrowsmith Decoux practices her cow call much to the annoyance of Mary Lee in “Cow Calls in Dalarna” (Credit: Clint Austin, Duluth News Tribune)
Produced by the Swedish Cultural Society of Duluth in 2016, with additional performances at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis, “Cow Calls in Dalarna,” is one of Sutter’s poetry collections that he turned into a one-act readers’ theater piece with music, telling the lyrical, humorous, and sometimes sad stories of a community of Swedish women who herded cows.
In 2005, Sutter was named Poet Laureate of Duluth. He made it his mission during his tenure to have poets and poetry more visible in the community and not just in academic settings.
Other honors include the George Morrison Artist Award, and awards from the Academy of American Poets, the Jerome Foundation, the Loft Literary Center, and the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council.
Observations About Duluth and the Region
Sutter told Contemporary Authors (a book series of short biographies and bibliographies of contemporary writers), “I live in Duluth, on the shores of the largest freshwater lake in the world, where canoe racks are standard equipment and the temperature sometimes drops to forty below. I enjoy being out of the swim . . . I like writing about country people and the natural world. I manage to get out in a canoe about thirty days a year and usually bring back fish or a poem—on lucky days, both.”
Bart navigating his canoe up and over a beaver dam. Photo Credit: Bettina Stuecher
Sutter speaks with admiration, love, and reverence for the Northland and specifically of Duluth where he makes his home with his wife Dorothea Diver. Extolling some of the virtues of those who live here, he said, “Duluth is full of talented, intelligent people who are lovably unpretentious and down-to-earth.”
Appreciating the natural world around him, Sutter said, “Duluth is a wild city. So far this summer, my wife and I have spotted a fox sneaking into our orchard, scared a cinnamon black bear out of our front yard, and watched a fawn learn to walk just minutes after it was born in our back yard.”
Sutter noted the richness of the cultural landscape here as well. “It’s been one of the great pleasures of my life to watch the arts truly come of age here and to be able to contribute to that process, myself. Music thrives—from the symphony orchestra to multiple festivals to jam sessions. Sculptors, potters, and painters maintain studios and sell through galleries and fairs. The quality of theatrical productions is surprisingly high for a city of this size.”
He added, “The literary scene is also so dynamic that the Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards had to be established and live readings are on offer almost every week.”
The Sutter Brothers
Bart and Ross Sutter perform their mix of song, storytelling and life experiences. (Photo from Nisswastämman archives.)
In addition to his writing, Bart enjoys performing in the musical duo, the Sutter Brothers, with his brother Ross Sutter. Ross’s repertoire includes Scandinavian, Scottish, and Irish songs, along with traditional American songs. He plays the guitar, dulcimer, button accordion, and bodhran (the Irish goat-skin drum).
Together, the Sutter Brothers present a delightful blend of music, storytelling, and poetry. They enjoy sharing the stories of their distinctly Scandinavian upbringing and of growing up as a preacher’s kids.
“Cotton Grass”
Sutter described his newest poetry collection “Cotton Grass” as “the best of his poetry focusing on nature.” The book includes some of his favorite past works from other books and many new poems. He dedicates the book “with love and gratitude to the Lake Superior region.”
About one of the poems in the collection, “Marsh Marigolds,” Sutter writes, “One spring morning, I went out to scout a trout stream on a trail I’d never walked, and halfway to the river, I found myself in a cedar swamp with a fairytale feel when those marsh marigolds surprised me. I had to think before their name came back to me, the way we hesitate when we encounter a friend we haven’t seen in some time; hence, the repetition: Marigolds, marsh marigolds. That effort to remember, plus the gratitude and tenderness I felt toward them after the long winter, triggered the deeper recollection of those girls I’d known so long ago.”
“Marsh Marigolds”
By Barton Sutter
The hiking trail takes me uphill
And then through wetlands in the woods,
The river still ahead. It’s dark
In here, the water black. I slosh
Through shallow pools, rock hop,
Cross a crude boardwalk, and notice
Marigolds, marsh marigolds,
Half grown but glowing in the dusk,
Their cup-shaped, deep green leaves
Still small, their yellow flowers
Still more bud than bloom, and think
Of country girls with whom I went
To grade school way back when.
Jeanie, Sandy, Margie, Joyce . . .
I’m so surprised to find you here,
Half hidden in the cedar shade,
And after all these years
"Marsh Marigolds" from “So Surprised to Find You Here” and “Cotton Grass” copyright 2022 by Barton Sutter. Reprinted with permission of Nodin Press.
In the afterword to “Cotton Grass,” Sutter wrote, “When I was nineteen. I borrowed a friend’s canoe and spent half the summer along the Northern border.”
While his packs that summer were heavy, he also carried a book of poems, “The Back Country” by Gary Snyder. “I enjoyed the poems for their own sake, but they also affirmed what I was doing out there by myself and helped me see—and see into and behind what I was seeing.”
Sutter added, “Experience has taught me to keep my expectations low when it comes to the reception of a book of poems. I’m still hanging onto the fantasy for this one though, that, at the last minute, some young hiker or paddler, heading out into the quiet, slips a copy of “Cotton Grass” into a pack and finds it well worth the added weight.”
