From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"Antler (born 1946, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, USA) is an American poet who lives in Wisconsin. His work reflects the influences of Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg, and the American traditions of transcendentalism and environmentalism. He celebrates the wilderness, often comparing urban, industrial life unfavorably with natural phenomena. His frank, sometimes earthy poems frequently exhibit sexual and spiritual energy entwined with the wonder of the natural world.

"Antler received a bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1970. Later he completed a master's degree in English from the same university after spending some time at the noted Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. During the 1970s he also worked at various factory and other jobs just long enough to get money to support his poetry writing and time spent in wilderness areas across the United States.

"Antler's first major work, the long poem Factory, was published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti's City Lights Bookstore in 1980. Allen Ginsberg declared Factory to be "the most enlightening and magnanimous American poem I've seen by anyone of the '60s and 70s decades." The collection Last Words appeared in 1986 from Ballantine Books, and Antler: The Selected Poems was published in 2000 by Soft Skull Press. He has also published several chapbooks and has contributed to numerous local, national, and international journals and anthologies.

"Among other honors, Antler received the Whitman Prize from the Walt Whitman Association, given to the poet "whose contribution best reveals the continuing presence of Walt Whitman in American poetry," in 1985. Antler also was awarded the Witter Bynner prize in 1987. Antler was the poet laureate of the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for 2002 and 2003.[1] He leads poetry workshops and gives readings across the United States and in other countries. He is also an advocate for wilderness protection and other causes, and continues to spend much time camping and exploring the wilderness areas he loves."

Other source information:

Brad Burdick is a citizen of Milwaukee, WI, and a poet writing under the name of Antler. Antler is the author of the books Factory, Last Words, and Ever-Expanding Wilderness (in press). His poetry has appeared in over 700 literary magazines (including Wilderness, Utne Reader, Whole Earth Review and Amicus Journal) and in over 80 anthologies (including Earth Prayers, An Eat to the Ground, A New Geography of Poets and The Soul Unearthed: Celebrating Wildness and Personal Renewal through Nature). According to various sources (see below), Antler (Brad Burdick), is winner of the 1987 Witter Bynner Prize awarded annually "to an outstanding younger poet" by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in New York City, and the 1985 Walt Whitman Award, given by the Whitman Association of Camden, New Jersey to an author "whose contribution best reveals the continuing presence of Walt Whitman in American poetry." Allen Ginsberg called Antler "one of Whitman's 'poets and orators to come'." Antler was chosen to be Milwaukee's poet laureate during 2002-03.

Antler was an inspiration for, and life-long friend of, gay writer and poet Jeff Poniewaz. From the UWM Report of June 2005: "According to Jeff Poniewaz and UWM Distinguished Alumnus Antler presented “Calamus Spirit” at the conference celebrating the 150th anniversary of the publication of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass that was held March 31-April 2 on the campus of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. They will be conducting a weeklong celebration of Leaves of Grass July 31-Aug. 6 at The Clearing, a nature refuge near the tip of Door County. On April 26, Poniewaz and Antler presented “Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman as Nature Mystics” at Club Timbuktu in Milwaukee as part of the ongoing monthly Rumi-Hafiz Mystic Poetry series there."

There is a wealth of web sites with information on Brad, aka Antler. Some of them include the following:

According to the Northwoodswild.org web site: "Brad Burdick is a citizen of Milwaukee, WI, and a poet writing under the name of Antler. For the past 25 years, Antler has used the Porcupine Mountains, Ottawa National Forest and the project area for hiking, nature study and other aesthetic and spiritual pursuits. These visits have provided much inspiration for his writings. Antler is the author of Factory, Last Words, and Ever-Expanding Wilderness (in press). His poetry has appeared in over 700 literary magazines (including Wilderness, Utne Reader, Whole Earth Review and Amicus Journal) and in over 80 anthologies (including Earth Prayers, An Eat to the Ground, A New Geography of Poets and The Soul Unearthed: Celebrating Wildness and Personal Renewal through Nature)."

From UWM's Creative Writing Program web site: "UWM’s Creative Writing Program has grown from its founding in 1969 by Thomas Bontly and James Hazard as a small master’s degree program to one of the largest and most successful programs in the country, enrolling 50-60 students per year, more than half at the Ph.D. level... Many graduates have gone on to successful careers as writers and teachers. Among them are Henri Cole, author of five collections of poetry and poet-in-residence at Smith College; Caroline Knox, author of five books of poetry and a National Endowment for the Arts award winner; and Antler (Brad Burdick), author of three books of poetry and winner of the Walt Whitman Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the Witter Bynner Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters."

According to Poets Against The War web site: "Antler is the author of Factory (City Lights, 1980), Last Words (Ballantine, 1986) and Antler: The Selected Poems (Soft Skull, 2000). He won the 1987 Witter Bynner Prize awarded annually "to an outstanding younger poet" by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in New York City, and the 1985 Walt Whitman Award, given by the Whitman Association of Camden, New Jersey to an author "whose contribution best reveals the continuing presence of Walt Whitman in American poetry." Allen Ginsberg called Antler "one of Whitman's 'poets and orators to come'." Antler was chosen to be Milwaukee's poet laureate during 2002-03."

Read a full interview at Poets Path web site.