Gilbert Allen is the author of six collections of poetry: In Everything, Second Chances, Commandments at Eleven, Driving to Distraction, Body Parts, and Catma. He also edited the anthologies 45/96 and A Millennial Sampler of South Carolina Poetry. His work has received The Robert Penn Warren Prize in Poetry from The Southern Review and has been featured on The Writer's Almanac and Verse Daily. He is the Bennette E. Geer Professor of Literature at Furman University. Since 1977 he has lived in upstate South Carolina with his wife, Barbara -- and with their eight unforgettable cats.