Michael Dickman was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. His first book of poems, The End of the West, appeared in 2009 and became the best-selling debut in the history of Copper Canyon Press. His poems appear frequently in The New Yorker, and he teaches poetry at Princeton University.

Other poems by Michael Dickman in Verse Daily:
February 2, 2011:   "Angel of Erosion" "Grows pale the dulcet gizmo..."
July 9, 2009:   "The Fox" "Remember trying to feed the fox?..."
June 29, 2009:   "The Euphoria of Peoria" "Help me please breathe..."
February 19, 2008:   "Today They Will Show Me the Homunculus" "I knew it was on the other side of the door..."
December 15, 2002:  My People "Initially, I too appeared between the legs..."

Books by Michael Dickman:

Other poems on the web by Michael Dickman:
"My Autopsy"
"Seeing Whales"
Four poems
Two poems
"We Did Not Make Ourselves"
Seven poems

Michael Dickman according to Wikipedia.

About Flies:

"Hilarity transfiguring all that dread, manic overflow of powerful feeling, zero at the bone—Flies renders its desolation with singular invention and focus and figuration: the making of these poems makes them exhilarating."
—James Laughlin Award citation

"Reading Michael [Dickman] is like stepping out of an overheated apartment building to be met, unexpectedly, by an exhilaratingly chill gust of wind."
—The New Yorker

"These are lithe, seemingly effortless poems, poems whose strange affective power remains even after several readings."
—The Believer