A native of Jones County, Miss., Buck Downs was raised in south Florida and later traveled to Texas then Louisiana in search of an education. In 1988 he moved to Washington, DC, where he still lives and works. Over the course of thirty years in Washington, Buck has led or contributed to many poetry and publishing ventures, including the Washington Review, Pink Line, and the D.C. Arts Center, where he currently serves as President of the Board of Directors. He is the author of MARIJUANA SOFTDRINK (Edge Books, 1999), Ladies Love Outlaws, You Can't Get Enough of What You Really Don't Need, TACHYCARDIA: POEMS 2010 - 2012 (Edge Books, 2015), and UNINTENDED EMPIRE: 1989-2012 (Furniture Press Books, 2018). In addition to writing and publishing books, Buck is best known for his poetry postcards, which have gone out to a list of about 200 friends and fellow poets since the mid-90s, and other author-published ephemera and printed objects.