Dwight Bitikofer has been active in St. Louis poetry circles for the past 20 years. He is a past president of the board for St. Louis Poetry Center.

Bitikofer poems have been published in various journals. Bitikofer recently published two poetry chapbooks. Poems and photos in “Square Miles & Roundabouts” celebrate “place,” including tributes to the poet’s origins on a Kansas farm. Poems in “View From the Third Eye” reflect perspectives and vantage points of seeing.

Dwight was active in poetry open mic circles for a number of years and was curator and emcee for several monthly poetry gatherings. He has performed in a “po-jazz” duo with a jazz musician friend. In addition to St. Louis, Dwight has read at open mics and other
events in London, New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Amarillo, Key West, Silver City, New Mexico and Hot Springs, Arkansas. He has also read in the country’s last-funded Carnegie Library in his small hometown of Canton, Kansas. He has studied
with several poets at the University of Iowa’s Summer Writing Festival.

While at Webster University in St. Louis, Dwight and two other students started a community newspaper which became Dwight’s career of 42 years. Webster University noted Dwight’s accomplishments with an honorary Doctor of Letters degree in 2015.
Dwight is the parent of three adult children and delighted to be a grandparent. He walks daily, serves on a couple of boards and engages in several volunteer pursuits. He has served as auctioneer for various charity auctions. Travel is an important life component.
He has been in all 50 U.S. states, the provinces of Canada, a bit of Central America and several European destinations. Dwight also enjoys driving his family farm heirloom, a 1948 Chevrolet pickup truck.

Dwight Bitikofer Artist Statement

Dwight Bitikofer approaches his poetry from varied angles. Some of his poetry is narrative – he spent his career, after all, in journalism. Sometimes he is the photographer,using words to capture a visual moment in time. Other poems pursue the ethereal andelusive wanderings of his muse. He often focuses on place while attempting to create anaura that reaches beyond geography. Still other poems touch on issues of social import.Bitikofer’s poems are personal statements or an exploration of a specific angle of vision.Luckily, those meanderings sometimes mesh with the experiences of readers andlisteners.The sounds of words are important to Bitikofer’s poetry. He has learned to respect theline of a poem as a unit unto itself. Bitikofer believes poetry is best experienced readaloud, preferably in an environment where the poet can see and feel the sound andinflection of his words reflected in the faces of an audience. He is grateful for suchreflections.