James Richard Hansen was born in Denver, Colorado, and moved to California at age twenty. He earned a B.A. in mathematics from California State University, Fresno, and an A.A.S. in accounting/data processing from Heald College. He has worked as a tutor and an IRS tax examiner, among other jobs. Hansen has been writing poetry for over thirty years and has published three previous collections: Progression (2001), JAD (2004), and Within and Without (2017). He currently lives in southern California.