Ted Pearson was born in Palo Alto, California, and was educated at Vandercook College of Music, Foothill College, and San Francisco State University. After forty years in the Bay Area, he emigrated to the United States. After six years in Ithaca and three in Buffalo, he moved to downtown Detroit in 1997, where he teaches in the English department at Wayne State University. He has published fifteen books of poetry to date, including _Evidence: 1975-1989_ (San Francisco: Gaz, 1990), _Planetary Gear_ (New York: Roof Books, 1991) and, most recently, _Songs Aside: 1992-2002_ (Detroit: Past Tents Press, 2003).