Bob Hicok is the author of Insomnia Diary (Pittsburgh, 2004), Animal Soul (2001), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Plus Shipping (1998), and The Legend of Light (1995), which won the 1995 Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry and was named a 1997 ALA Booklist Notable Book of the Year. A recipient of two Pushcart Prizes and an NEA Fellowship, he has been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including the 1997 and 1999 volumes of Best American Poetry. Having owned a successful die design business, he is currently an assistant professor of English at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. His poems appear in Smartish Pace, Issue 12.