James Cushing's most recent full-length collection of poems is Undercurrent Blues (2005), published by Cahuenga Press. He holds a doctorate in English from the University of California at Irvine, and teaches literature and writing at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Formerly the director of the Al's Bar Poetry Series and host of a live poetry program on KPFK-FM in Los Angeles, Cushing has published poetry and criticism in Antioch Review, Denver Quarterly, Third Coast, Yalobusha Review, and many other journals. His other books of poetry are You and the Night and the Music (Cahuenga Press, 1991, o.p.), and The Length of an Afternoon (Cahuenga, 1999). Cushing hosts a weekly jazz program on KCPR-FM, the college radio station in San Luis Obispo. Three poems from You and the Night and the Music appear in The Second Set: The Jazz Poetry Anthology #2 (Indiana University Press).