Ben Howard is the author of the verse novella Midcentury (Salmon, 1997), The Pressed Melodeon: Essays on Modern Irish Writing (Story Line Press, 1996), and three previous collections of poems. A recipient of numerous awards, including the Milton Dorfman Prize, the Theodore Christian Hoepfner Award, and an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship, he is a frequent contributor to American literary journals. He teaches literature, writing, and classical guitar at Alfred University in upstate New York.