Born in Troy, New York, Dick Allen grew up in the Adirondack Mountains and is one of the founders of Expansive poetry (which contains the New Formalism and New Narrative movements). Influences include Ralph Waldo Emerson, A.E. Housman, Ben Jonson, and Robert Frost, and Allen’s definition of the movement is as follows:

“Expansive Poetry is a narrative, dramatic and sometimes lyric poetry of the late 20th Century that conveys significant non-Confessional observations, thoughts and feelings about the world outside the Self and about the Self’s various relationships with this outer world. In carrying such content, it generally uses traditional rhyme and meter—sometimes loosened or roughened—incorporating natural speech patterns.” (PoetryFoundation.org)

Allen won many awards and fellowships, and he also co-authored numerous science fiction anthologies.

–Christie Finn