Barbara Saunier grew up in West Michigan, and wrote her first poem at the age of six — which she then gave to the family dentist, who kept it in her file until he retired. She took up writing poetry again several decades later, along the way supporting herself operating a solder pot on an assembly line, decorating furniture, life modeling, and free-lance writing— eventually picking up degrees from the University of Michigan and Western Michigan University. Her work has been published in many journals and reviews; it was also honored with first place in The MacGuffin 16th National Poet Hunt and in several other local and regional competitions. After teaching at Grand Rapids Community College for twenty-seven years, she is now retired — from teaching, from farm life, from horses and riding dressage. But she still drives a stick shift and does not color her hair.