Richard was kind enough to give me the story of his life. Being a very lazy editor, as well as feeling that he probably knows more about himself than I do, I'm just going to tell you about Rich according to Rich...

Richard L. Clayton grew up in poverty then was long-hauled up to Alaska from his Native California soil at the tender age of 14. He took his words to heart and began writing sporadically, at first. Having picked up a random poetry book (Archibald MacLeish) he fell in love with the way words could lend themselves to such wonderful images and so he wrote and created.

After a not too short stint in the U.S. Army as a military policeman, he threw himself whole heartedly back into school in Alaska and earned his Associates Degree in Computer Science along with the vaunted title of Certified Netware Engineer. He was quickly picked up by his present company in Anchorage, Alaska and can be found studying router configuations, server logs and whatnot.

Rich is married to a beautiful Korean woman and has three young sons that drive him crazy. He has had several of his works published in Moose Bound Press and a few other, less known publications. His works can be located at the ShowEMall website where he has won several special mentions along with one grand prize award. Rich currently is the Poetry Editor for Blood Moon Zine, where dark eroticism and wit are allowed a hallowed place to shine. He is on hiatus until January from his Bachelor's Degree program and will go onto the University's Master's Program in Telecommunications Management (MBA).

As an aside, Rich finds himself delving, in a virtual sense, into such things as the Gothic movements currently underfoot and has a desire to buy his wife a PVC wardrobe and a whip. Of course, Rich keeps these fantasies to himself or his lovely wife would castrate him...shucky-darns.

Now, onto the poetry! Rich Clayton is a marvelous, wonderful, stupendous writer who's also a great guy and has a marvelous sense of humor. His writing tends to be dense...ie, it's a bit difficult to get it all in the first reading. Yet, unlike some dense writing, it's definately worth rereading a tricky poem.

Rich, of course, is Internet savy and thus has a homepage, Rich's First Step , where you can find more of his poetry if you are intersted. Fan mail may be sent to [email protected] .