Dan Rifenburgh
Photo by Tommy Gay

Born in Elmira, New York, in 1949, the poet Dan Rifenburgh served three years in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War and later worked as a daily newspaper reporter. He was a staff writer for Soldiers magazine and also wrote for Stars and Stripes and Army News Feature. He was an honors graduate from the Journalism program, U.S. Department of Defense Information School. Rifenburgh completed his B.A. at Florida Atlantic University and his M.A. at the University of Florida. He serves as a lecturer for the University of Houston Creative Writing Program. In 2002, his first collection of poetry, Advent, was published in London by the Waywiser Press with an introduction by Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Wilbur who said of the collection, "The language of Advent often has the force of spare accuracy: it can also stun the reader with a brilliant, slow-fuse image." Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Hecht also praised the collection, stating, "These poems are startling in their vividness, their originality and solidity." Advent has already garnered critical recognition, including the Ornish Award from the Texas Institute of Letters.

A squadron of pelicans, Prehistoric remnants, flies over In perfect “V” formation, remindful, To the old, of bombers skirting past Dover, Channel-topping, headed at the Ruhr.

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