Born in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Ed Block traveled with his family throughout the West during his youth. After high school and college in St. Paul, Minnesota, he served in the Peace Corps in Malawi, Central Africa, before earning his Ph.D. in English and comparative literature from Stanford University. He is now Emeritus Professor of English at Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, where, until his retirement in 2012, he taught a variety of literature courses, concluding his career with capstone courses on Denise Levertov and Czeslaw Milosz and workshops in creative writing. A gardener and birdwatcher for decades, he has found inspiration in the ordinary and the extraordinary, the mundane and the strange.
His poems have appeared in Plainsongs, Nebraska Life, Lake Country Journal, Museletter, CrossCurrents, and a variety of other venues. Besides publishing or editing books and numerous literary articles, he is the author of three poetry collections: Anno Domini (2016), Seasons of Change (2017), and Shell Dreams (2021). His interviews, essays, and reviews on literary topics have appeared in a variety of journals. He continues to write poetry, tend a garden, and enjoy retirement in Greendale, Wisconsin.
Paperback: 122 pages
Publisher: Kelsay Books (June 15, 2022)