Even though he discovered poetry writing to be his niche, it was never easy. "I still stack up work sheets and just once in awhile something comes quickly. But sometimes it takes days or even years. I don't work on the same thing every day. I put it away for awhile and when I've forgotten it I try again," Snodgrass said.

Snodgrass also found a way to utilize his musical interests. He made many connections with musicians overseas. Soon he was working with them to translate ballads and poems in 20 languages, "none of which I could speak or read, but working with brilliant people helped me."

Then Snodgrass began working on a series of poems about the Third Reich. In 1977, he published "The Fuhrer Bunker: A Cycle of Poems in Progress," which included alleged dramatic monologues from Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, Speer and Goering. It triggered a firestorm of criticism from those who feared Snodgrass had become a Nazi apologist.

"I expected a certain amount of trouble," Snodgrass said, "but it made me into a pariah. I was kept out of anthologies and critical discussions for years because of it. A lot of people wouldn't touch me. That's beginning to change as more young people have become interested in my poetry."

Snodgrass had no intention of defending Nazis. He wanted to explore their mindsets, to understand why they did what they did. "Many people believed that you should do to Nazis what they did to Jews, treat them as inhuman, but they were human! In many ways, we've done some awful things ourselves and disgraced ourselves," said Snodgrass.

Snodgrass has always wanted to find "a completely different way to write a poem, but so far I have not been able to do that." Recently, he wrote a poem about his daughter, the one he was unable to see when she was tiny, because she has had problems of her own, including a difficult divorce, "and now she has become an Episcopalian minister and teaches Sanskrit classes."

"Twenty-five years ago, she performed my marriage to my fourth wife, Kathy, and we are still very happily married. Then, two years ago, she performed the marriage of her mother, who is the same age as I am, to a man three years older. I wrote a letter/poem to her called 'The Third Marriage of my Third Ex-wife.'"

Snodgrass has written serious poems about the breakup of his third marriage. "After 12 years, it blew up overnight. That was 30 years ago. I should have forgotten it by now, but it stays in my mind, so I write poems to get it out of my system."

Although he thinks he was "very bad at public readings" in his initial outings, Snodgrass now enjoys doing readings with dramatic flair. "I also give fairly long introductions to each poem I read, giving permission to the audience to laugh or cry and to establish a personal relationship. Sometimes, my wife and I do readings together. You can learn to do good readings, and I had some good teachers."

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If you go...

What: W.D. Snodgrass, widely acclaimed poet, will speak and read from his work at the Utah State Poetry Society's annual festival

Where: Salt Lake City Airport Hilton Hotel

When: Friday, 7 p.m., and Saturday, 11 a.m. (workshop)

How much: Snodgrass' speech and reading is free; the workshop is $10 (sponsored by Utah Arts Council)

Also: N. Colwell Snell, 2007 Poet of the Year, will give a reading, Saturday at noon

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E-mail: dennis@desnews.com