Jarold Ramsey grew up on a ranch near Madras, and in 2000 he and his wife Dorothy moved back to the place. In between, they raised two daughters and a son in Rochester, New York, where he was a member of the English faculty at the University of Rochester. His poetry collections include Love in an Earthquake, Hand-Shadows, and Where the WInd Comes to Play (with Bill Baber); among his prose books are Coyote Was Going There, Reading the Fire, and New Era: Reflections on the Human and Natural History of Central Oregon.