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California-born poet Eric Howard has spent most of his life in Los Angeles. After receiving a degree in English at Pomona College, Eric worked as a substitute teacher while living in an illegally converted basement apartment in the neighborhood of Silver Lake. There, he wrote Sinner. He later used his retirement money to buy a house and be the live-in landlord of a bunch of misfits. This included taking part in pranks and art projects put on by the Los Angeles Cacophony Society. He also obtained a master's degree in English from California State University Los Angeles, studying formal poetry with Henri Coulette. This allowed him to bring his punk sensibility to verse. He is a frequent reader around Southern California, including at the Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center. For almost two decades, he has worked as a magazine editor, which has informed his poetry about office life. His book, Taliban Beach Party, addresses 9/11 and its aftermath in the context of Los Angeles history, beginning with satire but concluding with prophecy. The title poem describes a Cacophony event that took place at Dockweiler Beach in October 2001.
-As adept working with the sonnet and sestina as with loose-fitting lines, Howard produces poems of great immediacy that stir with emotional depth.-—David Trinidad
