Born in New York, grew up in Rhode Island and moved west in the 1970s to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has been active in the literary community ever since. She is the author of five previous books of poetry, most recently , and her work appears in many journals and anthologies, including , edited by David Lehman and Lyn Hejinian. She is the recipient of fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, the California Arts Council, and the Fund for Poetry.