David McElroy grew up on a farm in northern Wisconsin. He moved successively west and north by attending the universities of Minnesota, Montana, and Western Washington and taking various jobs. He has been a smokejumper, teacher in Guatemala, taxi driver, English teacher in Seattle's inner city, and currently is a pilot with over 30,000 hours flying light planes in bush Alaska from coastal southeast, Aleutians, interior, and the Arctic in support of the fishing and oil industries, forest fire control, wildlife censuses and bowhead whale surveys. He has been published in national journals and has a previous book of poems called Making It Simple. Winner of several grants and awards, he has given readings at various universities in the west and New York. His passions include hiking, snowshoeing, kayaking, and birding. With his wife photographer Edith Barrowclough and son Brandon, he travels widely in Alaska and the world.