John-Michael Albert, Mike to his friends, was born into a German farming family in southwestern Ohio. He spent most of his childhood in and around Dayton, Ohio. At 16, he moved to Houston, Texas. Thirty years later, he moved to the Seacoast area of New Hampshire on groundhog Day in 1999. He is a published composer (Yelton Rhodes Music), with a BA in music from The University of the South (1980, Sewanee TN) and 15 years of experience composing for and conducting the Gay Men’s Chorus of Houston (1981-1995). On moving to New Hampshire, he changed the artistic direction of his life and dived into the thriving Seacoast poetry community. He has been a member of the board of the Poetry Society of New Hampshire and Jazzmouth: The Portsmouth Poetry and Jazz Festival, and was a founding member of the poetry workshop and performance ensemble, Blood on the Floor. In addition to frequent invitations to read his work in public, he has hosted many monthly poetry readings, judged poetry contests, edited poetry anthologies, and written over twenty essays on the craft of modern poetry for publication (see, for example, Animus, the poetry quarterly from Sheltering Pines Press). He is the editor of both The 2008 and The 2010 Poets’ Guide to New Hampshire, a 2-volume anthology of 400 poems about his new home state by 300 poets, culled from the last two centuries. He is the author of Two-Ply and Extra Sensitive, collected published poems 2000-2006 (Sheltering Pines Press, 2007) and Vivaldi for Breakfast, collected published poems 2005-2009 (Moon Pie Press, 2009), Cardamom Cravings, notes for an autobiography (Sargent Press, 2012), The Bird Catcher, new and selected poems (Moon Pie Press, 2012), Apple Blossoms, Splinters and Flames, peace poems (Sargent Press, 2008) and Oh, Ethel! Did You See That?, humorous poetry (Sargent Press, 2008). In April 2011, he was appointed to a two-year term as the eighth Portsmouth (NH) Poet Laureate. His latest book is The Light and Air of Our Work: Essays, Reviews and Poems about Poetry (Marble Kite Press, 2013).