Clemens Starck (1937 – March 21, 2024) was an American poet.

He is the author of seven books of poems, and recipient of the 1996 William Stafford Memorial Poetry Award^[1] and the Oregon Book Award for Journeyman's Wages. Two of his other books were also finalists for the Oregon Book Award.^[2]

Several of his poems, including "One of the Locals", were read by Garrison Keillor on The Writer's Almanac.^[3] A chapter dedicated to Starck's poetry, “Clemens Starck: ‘poems in my head, a hammer in my hand,” is within Durable Goods: Appreciations of Oregon Poets,^[4] written by Erik Muller and published by Mountains & Rivers Press in 2017.

Jon Broderick, founder of the annual FisherPoets Gathering in Astoria, Oregon, cites Starck as the inspiration for the festival. "Clem wrote poetry about work. I had never considered doing that. I immediately thought about the fishermen I knew who wrote, and decided to get a few people together to give it a try."^[5]

In 2018, Empty Bowl a small independent Pacific Northwest press, initiated a new series focused on collected and selected poems from Pacific Northwest writers. The series was launched with Finn Wilcox's Too Late to Turn Back Now: Prose and Poems. Starck's Cathedrals and Parking Lots: Collected Poems is the second book in this series.^[6]

Death

He died, age 86, on March 21, 2024.^[7]

Works

Poetry

• Journeyman’s Wages (Story Line Press, 1995)
• Studying Russian on Company Time (Silverfish Review Press, 1999)
• China Basin (Story Line Press, 2002)
• Traveling Incognito (Wood Works, 2004)
• Rembrandt, Chainsaw (Wood Works, 2011)
• Old Dogs, New Tricks (Oblio, 2016)
• Cathedrals and Parking Lots: Collected Poems (Empty Bowl, November 2018)

Audio CDs

• Looking for Parts (2008)
• Getting It Straight (2013)

Selected anthologies

• Good Poems for Hard Times, ed. Keillor (Penguin, 2006)
• From Here We Speak: An Anthology of Oregon Poetry, ed. St. John (Oregon State University Press, 1993)
• Where is Vietnam? American Poets Respond, ed. Lowenfels (Doubleday Anchor, 1967)
• Poetry Daily: 366 Poems from the World’s Most Popular Poetry Website, eds. Boller and Selby (Sourcebooks, 2003)
• Paperwork: Contemporary Poems from the Job, ed. Wayman (Harbour, 1991)