Lafayette Wattles, a Ucross Foundation Fellow, grew up a nonreader. In high school he was perhaps the consummate oxymoron-a sensitive jock. It wasn’t until he turned twenty-six that he read his first poem, short story, and novel outside a classroom setting. Later, he became a teacher and it was his students who helped him understand the impact his words could have. He is currently working on a Young Adult novel-in-verse that focuses on a football player who is bullied. The poem “What She’s Become” was originally written as part of that story, but didn’t fit with the narrative in the end.

Every time Lafayette gets away from writing for a few days or a week, he reminds himself of the response his students had to his work and is compelled to push on, to find a way. His poetry has appeared in Boxcar Poetry Review, Juked, FRiGG, The 13th Warrior Review, Eclectica Magazine, Not Just Air Literary eJournal , and others. Lafayette’s poetry was recently chosen for the 2008 Best of the Net Anthology, as well as nominated for a Pushcart and for Best New Poets 2009.

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