Born in Virginia, Bill Cushing grew up in New York, attended school in Pennsylvania, began college in Missouri but quickly found himself back in Virginia and New York as well as Florida, Maryland, Texas, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico before moving to California in 1996. When he began his studies at the age of 37, he edited GO magazine, an alternative arts publication in Jacksonville, Florida. As an undergraduate at the University of Central Florida, he was often referred to as the "blue collar" poet based on his previous years working at various jobs. He earned an MFA in writing from Goddard College in Vermont. He is currently working on a memoir focused on his time serving as an electrician in the Navy and later working on both Navy ships and oil tankers. His three collections of poetry are A Former Life (honorable mention from the  ...