Jake Adam York was raised in northeast Alabama, where his father was a steelworker, his mother a history teacher. Educated at Auburn University and Cornell University, he now teaches Creative Writing and Poetics at the University of Colorado at Denver. His work has appeared in The Southern Review, The Greensboro Review, Gulf Coast, Crab Orchard Review, and Shenandoah, as well as the website Poetry Daily. He serves as a contributing editor for Shenandoah and the poetry editor for storySouth. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize; "Vigil," reprinted here, was a finalist for the 2004 Campbell Corner Poetry Contest and appears on the Campbell Corner website. His first collection, Murder Ballads, recently won the Elixir Press Judge's Prize, selected by Jane Satterfield.