Stephen Ratcliffe's more than twenty books of poetry include NEW YORK NOTES (1983), DISTANCE (1986), [WHERE LATE THE SWEET] BIRDS SANG (1989), SOUND/(SYSTEM) (2002), PORTRAITS & REPETITION (2002), REAL (2007), and CONVERSATION (2011). He is also the author of three books of literary criticism: Campion: On Song (1981), LISTENING TO READING (2000), and READING THE UNSEEN: (OFFSTAGE) HAMLET (2009). He lives in Bolinas, California, and teaches at Mills College in Oakland.