Terence Culleton was born and raised in Philadelphia. He has earned his living as a factory line worker, warehouseman, cab driver, food industry worker, landscaper, and teacher. His love for the musical qualities of poetry was sparked by the good nuns in grade school, whose pedagogy included a strong emphasis on the memorization and recital of poems, prayers, gospel passages, and responsories. He has a BA from Haverford College, an MA from the University of Virginia, and an MFA from the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers, where he became absorbed by the mystery of crafting a poem’s lyrical—i.e., its musical—dimensions as realized in form and aspiring to song.
A Bucks County (PA) Poet Laureate emeritus and several-time Pushcart and Best of the Web nominee, Culleton has published in a variety of journals and reviews, including Amherst Review, Birmingham Review, Cumberland Review, Edge City Review, Orbis, The Orchards Poetry Journal, Schuylkill Valley Journal (featured poet), and many others. He has had several pieces featured on NPR and has appeared on TV and radio programs in Philadelphia and New York.
Culleton has published three previous books of poems, the most recent of which, A Tree and Gone, is a collection of fifty-four formal English sonnets, many of which have appeared in journals and anthologies both in the US and the UK. His first two books are A Communion of Saints and Eternal Life. Mr. Culleton lives in Langhorne, PA with his wife Nancy and their intelligent fox hound Zelda.
Paperback: 98 pages
Publisher: Kelsay Books (June 3, 2026)