Michael Perkins is the author of five collections of poetry, including The Blue Woman (1966), The Persistence of Desire (1977), Praise in the Ears of Clouds (1982) and Gift of Choice (1992). The Secret Record, literary criticism, was published by William Morrow in 1976, and is available in paperback from Rhinoceros. His poems and essays have appeared in Younger Critics of North America, The Nation, Mother Jones, Paper, Choice, Notre Dame Review, The World, Sagetrieb, Talisman, and American Book Review as well as in numerous other magazines and anthologies here and in Europe. He has been editorial director of magazines and publishing companies, including Croton Press, Ltd., Tompkins Square Press, Down Here and Ulster Arts Magazines. He has given over a hundred public readings in New York, San Francisco and Oxford, England. A graduate of Ohio University (Athens) in philosophy and English literature, he studied at City College of New York and The New School. He is a member of The Author's Guild, the National Book Critics Circle, and Poets and Writers.