CLARENCE MAJOR is a prizewinning poet, painter, and novelist. He is the author of thirteen previous books of poetry. As a finalist for a National Book Award he won a bronze medal for his book Configurations: New and Selected Poems, 1958-1998. Among other awards he is also the recipient of a National Council on the Arts Award, a New York Cultural Foundation Award, and the Stephen Henderson Poetry Award for Outstanding Achievement, all three for poetry. His poetry has appeared in hundreds of anthologies and periodicals, in English and in foreign languages. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of California at Davis.