A farmer and environmentalist poet who writes of rural life in Taiwan in simple, colloquial poems that depict his vanishing world.

John Balcom, PhD., is a translator of Chinese literature, whose previous books for Zephyr Press include Abyss, by Ya Hsien (a finalist for the PEN Poetry in Translation Award), Grass Roots, by Xiang Yang, and Driftwood and Stone Cell, both by Lo Fu. Other recent publications include Frontier Taiwan: An Anthology of Modern Chinese Poetry (contributor), Wintry Night by Li Qiao (co-translator), The City Trilogy by Chang His-kuo, There's Nothing I Can Do When I think of You Late at Night, by Cao Naiqian, and Taiwan's Indigenous Writers: An Anthology of Stories, Essays, and Poems, the last two of which won Northern California Book Awards. He teaches at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.