Derold Ernest Sligh currently lives in South Korea and was born and raised in Saginaw, Michigan. He received an MA from Central Michigan University and an MFA from San Diego State University. He was the recipient of the J.L. Carroll Arnett Creative Writing Award. He was a guest poet at the Theodore Roethke Memorial where he ran a workshop for African American fathers and sons. His work has appeared in American Poetry Journal, Catamaran Literary Reader, Konundrum Engine, New York Quarterly, The Offing, Santa Clara Review, Third Coast, and Saw Palm, among other publications.