J.D. Whitney was born in California and spent his first ten years mostly outside with trap-door spiders and horned toads. Then he moved to Detroit and found himself drawn to 1950s hot-rod and Harley-Davidson culture, while also studying at the University of Michigan. He taught for many years at the University of Wisconsin Marathon County (Wausau) and College of Menominee Nation (Keshena) and now lives in Madison WI with his wife Lisa Seale.His books of poems include HELLO, THE NABISCO WAREHOUSE, SD, GRANDMOTHER SAYS, and ALL MY RELATIONS. His poems hope to exhibit economy, tightness, speech-energy, and concrete imagery. Increasingly, his poems focus on trying to speak of humans' intimate and interdependent membership in what is called "the natural world." He counts as his most significant influences--without trying to put himself in their company--Gary Snyder, Robert Creeley, Louise Erdrich, Jim Harrison, Linda Hogan, Jay Griffiths. So many debts, so much gratitude.