Robert L. Penick is a Louisville, Kentucky poet, fiction writer, and essayist whose work has appeared widely in American literary journals. His books include Blue Forms: Selected Poems 1990–1998, published by Chiron Review Press, and Exit, Stage Left. His poetry has appeared in The Hudson Review, Carolina Quarterly, Tar River Poetry Review, Slipstream, Chiron Review, and numerous other publications. Penick’s direct, carefully observed writing often explores memory, relationships, mortality, place, and the emotional undercurrents of ordinary life.