David Ensminger was born under a plastic Missouri sun in the skinny shadows of trailer parks until his family fled to corn row Illinois, where he began self-publishing poetry and music zines with the help of clunky Xerox machines when he wasn't playing drums in punk bands. He stuffed America under his belt while publishing in underground chapbooks and journals like Extra Cheese, Subbild, Lilliput Review, Flower, Caveat Lector, In the Throes, Fuel, and Poesflesh. As a music journalist, he has written for Cowboys and Indians, Thirsty Ear, Houston Press, and Maximum Rock'n'Roll. In 1999, he started his own music magazine, Left of the Dial, which can be found online. He teaches composition and studies folklore at the University of Oregon as the coast of beatnik Oregon shudders near him. He has recently been published by the print journal Detroit Dispatch and the on-line sites Stirring, Rumble, Noo Journal, Blazevox, Thieves Jargon, and Softblow.