If you’re looking for a lesson in poetry and poetics then you came to the right podcast. Ben is a wealth of knowledge and wits, full of interesting tales and dry humor. Take a gander for yourself and enjoy :)

Ben grew up in Houston, TX. He enrolled at the University of Texas, Austin (UT), in 1968 and has lived here ever since. In the 1970s he worked at the UT library system to finance his graduate studies while also publishing poems. During this time he traveled to Europe, Mexico, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal. For a while he was a busker on the drag across from the UT campus, reciting famous poems he committed to memory (which he can still do). In 1980 Ben took a break from his studies to start a small import company specializing in art and artifacts from the Himalayas, which helped subsidize his travels. While in New Delhi he met a Thai woman who later became his wife and mother of his two children. This break from his studies wound up lasting 35 years. Recently Ben returned to UT to receive another Bachelor of Arts in history, which was completed in 2017. He considers literature his real career and continues to write poetry.