MELISSA BUCKHEIT is a queer poet, translator, activist, dancer/choreographer, photographer, English Lecturer and Orthopedic Massage Therapist. She is the author of Noctilucent (Shearsman Books, 2012), and two chapbooks: Dulcet You (dancing girl press, 2016), and Arc (The Drunken Boat, 2007). Her poems, hybrid, translations, photography, essays, critical interviews and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in Yes, Poetry; Denver Quarterly; Sky Island Journal; EOAGH; FIVES, a Companion to Denver Quarterly; Shearsman Magazine; The Feminist Wire; VIDA: Women in the Arts (HerKind); Molly Bloom; MayDay Magazine; The VOLTA; Sinister Wisdom, The Drunken Boat; Bombay Gin; Spiral Orb; Waxwing; and The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide (University of Arizona Press, 2016), among others. Jocelyn Heath, in a review in Lambda Literary, noted of Noctilucent that, “Buckheit pairs earthly longings with writings of celestial delicacy to show us what we can see when we look beyond immediacy. Her collection, like the noctilucent cloud that shares its name, lingers long in the atmosphere.” Buckheit translates the poet Ioulita Iliopoulou from Modern Greek, and is a recipient of two Pushcart Prize and two Best of the Net nominations. She holds an M.F.A. in Poetry from Naropa University and a B.A. in Theatre/Dance, English and Creative Writing from Brandeis University. She founded and curates the innovative Edge: An Interdisciplinary Reading & Performance Series in Tucson, AZ from 2008-2016, and in Greater New England from 2022-present. She has taught at Pima College, University of Arizona and Zuzi Dance Company. She currently lives in Connecticut.