Patrick Bizzaro is the author of eight books and chapbooks of poetry, as well as numerous poems published in magazines and journals. His latest collection is Fear of the Coming Drought, (Mt. Olive Press, 2001). He has been awarded the Madeline Sadin Award from New York Quarterly and the Four Quarters Poetry Prize. His criticism includes Dream Garden: The Poetic Vision of Fred Chappell (LSU Press, 1997), and his pedagogical work includes Responding To Student Poems: Applications of Critical Theory (NCTE, 1993). He currently resides in Greenville, NC and teaches writing and literature at East Carolina University.