FRANK MONTESONTI is the author of two collections of poems from Black Lawrence Press: the book of poetic erasure, Hope Tree (H>ow To P>rune >Fruit Tree>s), and the chapbook A Civic Pageant, winner of the 2007 Black River Chapbook Contest. His first full-length collection Blight, Blight, Blight, Ray of Hope was the winner of the 2012 Barrow Street Book Contest. He has been published in literary journals such as Tin House, Black Warrior Review, AQR, Poet Lore, and Poems and Plays, among many others. He has an MFA from the University of Arizona and teaches poetry at National University. He lives in Los Angeles, California.