Dressel's verse sings, if not his lambs MISSOURI POETS * JON DRESSEL.(A&E)

Byline: Walter Bargen Special to the Post-Dispatch

In this regular feature, Missouri poet laureate Walter Bargen highlights the work of writers from the state.

Jon Dressel, 74, taught creative writing and American literature at Webster College (now Webster University) from 1969-76. From 1976 to 1998, he was affiliated with Trinity College of the University of Wales, where he directed the American Studies Program and later the Graduate Program in Creative Writing.

During those years he "commuted" between Wales and St. Louis, where in 1980 with his wife, Barbara, he started Dressel's Pub. A resident of the Central West End, Dressel has published and …