One of M. Bartley Seigel’s billboards along US Highway 41 between Negaunee and Marquette.
If you’re traveling through Escanaba, Marquette, Flint, or the metro Detroit area, keep an eye out for a familiar Michigan Tech Humanities Department faculty member. M. Bartley Seigel will be hard to miss. He’s larger than life thanks to Michigan Words, a statewide billboard campaign celebrating contemporary Michigan poets.
The billboards are the capstone project of state of Michigan Poet Laureate, Nandi Comer, who was recently awarded an Academy of American Poets (Mellon Foundation) fellowship in support of her work—Seigel is also a former recipient of this prestigious fellowship. The project also features the work of poets Brittany Rogers, of Detroit, and Jonah Mixon-Webster, of Flint.
How does it feel to be featured on billboards? “Weird and wonderful,” said Seigel. “Being on billboards along Michigan highways is not where I ever expected to find my work, nor my giant face. It’s one of life’s pleasant absurdities. I’m really grateful to Nandi and the Library of Michigan for including me, and I hope it helps bring new and unexpected readers to the magic of poetry.”
Seigel is an associate professor of creative writing and literature in the Department of Humanities, director of the Michigan Tech Writing Center, and faculty advisor to the Michigan Tech Lode, the oldest student organization on campus. His latest poetry collection, In the Bone-Cracking Cold, is forthcoming from Wayne State University Press in March 2025. The 2021-22 Poet Laureate of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Seigel is a long-time advocate for creative writing projects on campus, as well as at the local, state, and national levels, especially in support of emerging and underrepresented writers.
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