Wayne F. Burke was born in 1954 in a small manufacturing town in the North Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.His father, Edward, had been a sergeant in the Marine Corp before becoming manager of a Mobil Flying-A Gasoline station; his mother, Claire Burke nee Kelly, had worked in a textile mill before becoming a full-time housewife. Both of his parents died young: his mother at twenty-eight--at which time his father moved him and his three siblings to the home of the paternal grandparents. His father died at thirty-two. The four children were raised by the grandparents and an Uncle. The grandfather was owner and operator of BURKE’S INN, a generational business begun previous to the First World War. Wayne F. Burke attended public school, and after graduating from High School, three institutions of higher learning before graduating from Goddard College in 1979 (B.A. RUP). After graduation he traveled around the country, living in a variety of places and working at a variety of occupations (presently, he is employed as an LPN in a nursing home). In the late- 80’s he located himself in the central Vermont area and has remained since. He published mostly prose until 2013 when his first poetry collection was published. He was fifty-eight years old. ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET CROUTON is his 7th published poetry collection. A book of short stories, titled TURMOIL & Other Stories, is scheduled for publication by Adelaide Press in 2020.