Dore Kiesselbach of Minneapolis has won the Agnes Lynch Starrett poetry prize for his collection, "Salt Pier." The book will be published next fall by the University of Pittsburgh Press, the sponsor of the award. He will also receive $5,000. His manuscript was chosen from a field of more than 600 entries.

In a press release, Kiesselbach called the win "a personal continental divide."

"It establishes a new before and a new after," he said. "It makes me glad for my obstinacy and grateful to those who helped me indulge it."

Kiesselbach, 47, studied at Oberlin College and the University of Iowa, and has lived in the Twin Cities for eight years. Two years ago, he won the Bridport Prize for "Non-Invasive," a poem about his wife, Karin Ciano (a master gardener) removing buckthorn from their yard.

Kiesselbach's poems have appeared in South Carolina Review, Poetry East and Barrow Street.