Portrait of a Man at Desk

Dr. cris cheek (intentionally uncapitalized) is not a to-do-list type of person. He didn't plan on being here, in this office of the neo-Georgian red-brick housing Miami University's English Department, nor teaching poetry at a university 3,944 miles away from his birthplace--though he suspects London will always be hardwired into his system. At age 61, as he bumps elbows with overstuffed bookshelves and open texts sprawled on the desk before him, he discloses that he joined academia late--going to college at 39. Years ago, when the chair of the Miami English Department offered a visiting associate post, cris cheek, at that time teaching in England, said yes.