I’m currently a PhD student in the English Department at University of Wisconsin -Milwaukee. I teach College Writing and Research at UWM, as well as co-teach a graduate seminar on contemporary American poetry for Missouri State during summers. In a previous life, or what felt like one, I worked in Finance for about 10-years, first as an institutional trader and then later in consulting, management and compliance. I’m currently working on two poetry manuscripts and my Masters thesis was titled Gongshi Meditation on the American Prairie. I’m one of these people who decided, later than I’d have liked, what my life priorities should have been. Now, I’m doing what I enjoy and what I should have done all along.

I’m from Springfield, MO, but I lived in Kansas City for five years and also in Denver, CO. I’m a bit of an outdoorsman and traveler, as well as an animal lover. I collect and restore old tools and also have a decent rock collection. For a few years, I actually made a scant living selling rocks on Ebay, while meanwhile exploring the wilderness, writing, and reflecting on the coming end of adult childhood.