KIM R. STAFFORD was born in Portland, Oregon, and has taught in some ten colleges in Idaho, California, and Oregon. He holds a Ph.D. in Medieval Literature from the University of Oregon. His previous books include Having Everything Right: Essays of Place (Confluence Press, 1986), which won a Western States Book Awards Citation for Excellence; Rendezvous: Stories, Songs, & Opinions of the Idaho Country (Idaho State University Press, 1982), a collection of folklore; and two collections of poetry: The Granary (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1982), and A Gypsy's History of the World (Copper Canyon Press, 1976). He has worked as a writer in the schools, printer, photographer, and oral historian. He is currently director of the Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, where he lives with his wife and daughter.