Al OrtolaniAl Ortolani was born in Huntington, New York in 1952. He was raised in Pittsburg, Kansas, attending Pittsburg State University where he received his B.S. in Education, M.A. in English and an Ed.S. in Higher Education. As a boy, he dreamed of playing econd base for the New York Yankees. When the scouts failed to show, he began writing poetry. Ortolani is a career public school teacher in Kansas. His poetry and reviews have appeared in journals such as Prairie Schooner, New Letters, The Midwest Quarterly, The English Journal, and the New York Quarterly. He has five books of poetry, The Last Hippie of Camp 50 and Finding the Edge, published by Woodley Press at Washburn University, Wren's House, published by Coal City Press in Lawrence, Kansas, Cooking Chili on the Day of the Dead from Aldrich Press in California, and most recently, WAVING MUSTARD IN SURRENDER (NYQ Books, 2014). He is on the Board of Directors of the Kansas City Writers Place and is an editor with The Little Balkans Review. He currently lives in the Kansas City area with his wife Sherri. Read More Read Less