Raised in Baltimore and Georgia, Amy King holds a BS in English and women’s studies from Towson University, an MFA in poetry from Brooklyn College, and an MA in poetics from SUNY Buffalo. Her writing, which shows elements of Language poetry, has been influenced by her work with Charles Bernstein and Susan Howe in Buffalo, although she is also drawn to confessional and New York School poets. She has cited Cesar Vallejo, Gertrude Stein, Laura (Riding) Jackson, and John Ashbery as her current influences. While applying pressure to the boundaries of “queer” poetry, King also finds inspiration in pop culture, science, social taxonomies, and other questions of gender, ontology, and culture.
 
King is the author of four volumes of poetry: Antidotes for an Alibi (2005); I’m the Man Who Loves You (2007); Slaves to Do These Things (2009); and the forthcoming I Want to Make You Safe (2011). Her chapbooks include The People Instruments (2002); The Citizen’s Dilemma  (2003); The Good Campaign (2006); and Kiss Me with the Mouth of Your Country (2007). King is at work on a book of interviews with poet Ron Padgett. Nominated for several Pushcart Prizes, King has received a MacArthur Scholarship for Poetry and was the 2007 “Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere.”
 
Currently, King co-edits esque magazine with Ana Božičević; Poets for Living Waters with Heidi Lynn Staples; and the Electronic Poetry Center’s Poetics List. She also moderates the Women’s Poetry Listserv (WOMPO) and the Goodreads Poetry! Group, and organizes “The Count” and conducts interviews for VIDA: Women in Literary Arts. She is a professor of English and creative writing at SUNY Nassau Community College.