Life and Work
Wakoski was born in Whittier, California and studied at the University of California, Berkeley and graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor of Arts, where she participated in Thom Gunn's poetry workshops. It was there that she first read many of the modernist poets who would influence her writing style. Her early writings were considered part of the deep image movement that also included the works of Jerome Rothenberg, Robert Kelly, and Clayton Eshleman, among others. She also cites William Carlos Williams and Allen Ginsberg as influences. Her later work is more personal and conversational in the Williams mode. Wakoski is married to Robert Turner, and teaches creative writing at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.
Wakowski's literary works have been recognized and highlighted at Michigan State University in their Michigan Writers Series. She is best known for a series of poems collectively known as "The Motorcycle Betrayal Poems."
Read more about this topic: Diane Wakoski
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