Ellen Welcker's obsessions include ecological desperation, boundaries real & imagined, and the concept of deep humanity as an animal state. Her first book, THE BOTANICAL GARDEN (Astrophil Press, 2010), was selected by Eleni Sikelianos for the Astrophil Poetry Prize in 2009. Chapbooks include Mouth That Tastes of Gasoline (alice blue books, 2014) and The Urban Lightwing Professionals (H_NGM_N, 2011). She lives in Spokane, WA, with her family and works for the Bagley Wright Lecture Series on Poetry.