John Peck was born in Pittsburgh in 1941. He taught literature at American and Swiss universities and trained as an analytical psychologist in Zurich. His collection The Broken Blockhouse Wall (Carcanet, 1979) won the Prix de Rome, and his other works include Argura (Sheep Meadow, 1998) and M and Other Poems (TriQuarterly Books, 1996). He lives in Massachusetts.