Merrill Gilfillan was born in Mount Gilead, Ohio, in 1945 and studied literature at the Universities of Michigan and Iowa. His first book of poems appeared in 1970. Recent publications from Flood Editions include RED MAVIS, UNDANCEABLE, SELECTED POEMS 1965-2000, THE BARK OF THE DOG, and Harpsichord Hills (Horse Less Press), as well as a collection of alfresco essays, THE WARBLER ROAD. A sheaf of landscape drawings called Distant Rivers appeared in 2012. He lives in Colorado.