Michael Lally was born in Orange, NJ 1942. 1959 he began reading poems in coffee houses and bars; first published 1960; military 1962-66; ran for sheriff of Johnson County, Iowa, for Peace and Freedom Party 1968 while at U. of Iowa on GI Bill; 30 books published since 1970; 92nd St. Y Poetry Center’s Discovery Award for The South Orange Sonnets 1972; NEA Poetry grants, 1974 & ’81 (denounced in Congress by Republicans who called the poem “My Life” “pornography” in first attempt to defund the NEA); PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature for Can’t Be Wrong 1997; American Book Award for It’s Not Nostalgia 2000; latest book Another Way To Play: Poems 1960-2017. Civil Rights, anti-war, feminist, and LGBT activist since 1966, also worked as jazz pianist, magazine editor, college teacher, book critic (for The Washington Post, The Village Voice, et. al.); political columnist, night guard, chauffeur, movie and TV actor (White Fang, Deadwood et. al.) screenwriter and script doctor (Drugstore Cowboy, Pump Up The Volume et. al.) Writes the blog “Lally’s Alley” and contributor to “The Best American Poetry Blog.”