Ryler Dustin began his poetry career by performing spoken word; he placed eighth while representing Seattle in the Individual World Poetry Slam, headlined at spoken word venues across the country, and was featured in The Best of Button Poetry. He is the author of Heavy Lead Birdsong from Write Bloody Publishing and Trailer Park Psalms, winner of the University of Pittsburgh’s Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize. After earning an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Houston and a PhD from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he went on to live in Spain, Jack Kerouac’s former home, a cabin in the Oregon wilderness, and recently moved back to his hometown of Bellingham. You can find his work in outlets like Verse Daily, American Life in Poetry, The Best of Iron Horse, and Major Jackson’s podcast The Slowdown.