Born in Kentucky, Doug Bootes lives and works in New Mexico. He holds an MFA in poetry  from the Institute of American Indian Arts and has published two poetry chapbooks, Heliotropic (Finishing Line Press, 2024), and Maelstrom (Boot Leg Press, 2014). Bootes’ poems and prose also appear in Poetry Northwest, Hunger Mountain Review, World Literature Today, New Limestone Review, Connotations Press, jmww, On the Run Contemporary Flash Fiction, The Closed Eye Open: Maya's Micros, and others.