Frederick Beuchner defines "vocation" as that place where "your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." For me, that place is poetry. As a community college teacher, writing and publishing poems is not a "career move," but even after grading stacks of composition papers, I turn to poetry because I am hungry for that intensity of experience, vibrancy of language, and luminosity of imagination. As a Quaker with Zen tendencies, my "deep gladness" is most lively when living harmoniously with the deep truths that move within me and among us. I hope my poems and other writings speak from and speak to that integrity. Such a gesture moved me to move, with my spouse, to Hiroshima and volunteer at the World Friendship Center in answer to the First Gulf War of 1991. My two "first books" of poetry embody these journeys. Pilgrimage to a Gingko Tree was written in Hiroshima and reflects concerns about atomic fallout-literally and culturally-but also explores journeying outside of one's home as a guest and foreigner to find familiar territory in the common ground of our shared humanity, and Part Darkness, Part Breath is a meditation on violence and war as well as the answering forces in the human spirit. In addition to writing, teaching, and editing, I’ve worked at a pizza shop, volunteered with homeless folks, customized The Cable Guide so viewers can schedule their VCRs smoothly, and coordinated retreats for young people for the Catholic Church. My spouse and I now live and work in Corning, New York, a city defined by hills, the Chemung River, and a glass company you may have heard of. I've included samples on this site from my poetry, book reviews, essays, and the creative writing textbook I co-wrote with Scott Minar. I hope that something here rewards your attention. If you have feedback or wish to invite me to do a reading or workshop, please contact me via email at me@edwarddougherty.net.