ETHAN GOFFMAN

Ethan Goffman is the bemused, confused, conflicted person described in his completely fictional autobiography, Dreamscapes, a collection of flash (and sometimes flashy) stories. The very same person (or almost the same) is responsible for two volumes of poetry, I Garden Weeds and Words for Things Left Unsaid. Although the name is unique on planet Earth, a different version of Ethan Goffman writes about transit issues in the DC region, while an earlier version wrote environmental journalism and a still earlier incarnation composed literary criticism. Yet another Ethan Goffman, somehow coexisting in the same body, lives with his wife and cat (formerly two cats but they have transmigrated into one being) in a cozy and amazingly eco-friendly house in Rockville, Maryland, existing without a car and eating almost no meat, a lifestyle that will actually allow a sustainable future on Planet Earth.

Ethan (or some version of Ethan) is co-founder of It Takes a Community, a Montgomery College initiative bringing poetry to students and local residents, and is founder and producer of the Poetry & Planet podcast on EarthTalk.org.