MARK D. HART, born on Valentine’s Day in 1956, grew up on a wheat farm in the Palouse region of eastern Washington State and now lives in an apple orchard in western Massachusetts. He is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in private practice, the guiding teacher for the Bodhisara Dharma Community, on the teaching staff of Insight Meditation Center of the Pioneer Valley, and a religious advisor at Amherst College. He holds a masters degree in counseling from Seattle University and a doctorate in theology from Boston College and has taught religious studies at both Seattle University and Smith College.
He began writing poetry in 2003 after the death of his father. Since then his work has appeared in Atlanta Review, RATTLE, Poetry East, Margie, The Midwest Quarterly, Tar River Poetry, The Spoon River Poetry Review and numerous other journals. His first book of poetry, Boy Singing to Cattle (Pearl Editions, 2013), won the Pearl Poetry Prize, was a finalist for the Massacusetts Book Award and named a "Must-Read Book" by the Massachusetts Center for the Book in 2014. His second book, The Joy of Blasphemy, is new from Off the Common Books in 2018.
He began writing poetry in 2003 after the death of his father. Since then his work has appeared in Atlanta Review, RATTLE, Poetry East, Margie, The Midwest Quarterly, Tar River Poetry, The Spoon River Poetry Review and numerous other journals. His first book of poetry, Boy Singing to Cattle (Pearl Editions, 2013), won the Pearl Poetry Prize, was a finalist for the Massacusetts Book Award and named a "Must-Read Book" by the Massachusetts Center for the Book in 2014. His second book, The Joy of Blasphemy, is new from Off the Common Books in 2018.
For more information about Mark's Dharma teaching in western Massachusetts and the activities of the Bodhisara Dharma Community, visit www.bodhisara.org.
FYI He is not the same person as "Mark Hart The Bible Geek!
FYI He is not the same person as "Mark Hart The Bible Geek!