Works
Cotton Grass: New and Selected Poems of the North
Bart Sutter's new collection covers nearly fifty years of Sutter's poetic engagement with the natural world, the North Country, his Swedish heritage, and the characters--human, animal, floral--inhabiting his homeland. The word that comes to mind with Bart Sutter's poems is exuberant. These poems find energy, reflection, and insight in whatever direction the poet turns.
--Tim Nolan
Nordic Accordion: Poems in a Scandinavian Mood
It's refreshing to be carried along on the horse of meter, when most poets are opting for speech rhythms, or no rhythm at all. Bart Sutter does this with what seems like the greatest of ease. You can travel a long way, further than Sweden, before you will find poems more evocative, earth-wise, forthcoming, and fair to human beings than these.
--Howard Nelson
Farewell to the Starlight in Whiskey
Starlight is light years away (thank God) from postmodern tactics; one might even say Sutter’s aesthetic is pre-modern. There are many poems with rhyme and meter, an unabashed celebration of nature, and most amazingly, a healthy sampling of what we see little of these days: the affirmative poem.
--Stephen Dunn
Cold Comfort: Life at the Top of the Map
With a nimble wit and a roving eye for detail, Sutter goes beneath the veneer of the North Country to expose its attractions, its quirks, and its characters. There isn’t a clinker in the collection.
--Sam Cook, Duluth News-Tribune
My Father’s War: Stories of Midwestern Men
These magnificent stories are big-hearted and loving in a way I don’t think I’ve ever encountered. With a calm and compassionate hand, Barton Sutter reveals to us the true dignity of humankind, the necessity of heroes and history, and the unerring aim of hope.
--Brett Lott