Barbara BloomBarbara Bloom is the author of two previous collections: On the Water Meridian (2007), a finalist for the Northern California Book Award; and Pulling Down the Heavens (2017), both from Hummingbird Press. Bloom is a four-time winner of the Sue C. Boynon Poetry Contest in Bellingham, and her poems have been featured on the radio on The Writer's Almanac. Her work has appeared most recently in Catamaran, Adventures Northwest, and Western Washington Poets Network Anthology.Bloom grew up in California, but when she was a teenager, she and her family moved to a remote coastal homestead in British Columbia, where their survival depended on learning to operate a boat, fish, hunt, and grow their own food. Though she returned to California to finish her education, this experience of living so close to nature was profound and continues to inspire both her work and her life. Bloom earned an M.A. in English and creative writing from San Francisco State University and taught composition and creative writing at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz, California, for over thirty years. She has a grown daughter and two grandsons and lives with her husband in Bellingham, Washington, where she teaches writing workshops through Whatcom Community and Continuing Education. Read More Read Less