Born in Guelph, Ontario, John has aslso lived in Iraq, Egypt, Japan, and Nova Scotia. He earned a BA and MA in English Literature at York University, where he studied with Irving Layton, Frank Davey, Eli Mandel, and Miriam Waddington. He also took summer courses in creative writing at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, Naropa University, where he worked closely with Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman. He worked in publishing at Coach House Press, organizational communications ,and journalism before becoming an English teacher in Ontario community colleges. John is now Professor of Learning and Teaching at Centennial College. He has published five books of poetry (most recently Time Slip, Guernica Editions) and a mystery novel, Death by Triangulation, as well as over 400 articles, blogs, reviews and interviews. He is also a photographer and amateur musician.