Wayne F. Burke was born in 1954 in a small manufacturing

town in the North Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.His father,

Edward, had been a sergeant in the Marine Corp before

becoming manager of a Mobil Flying-A Gasoline station; his

mother, Claire Burke nee Kelly, had worked in a textile mill

before becoming a full-time housewife. Both of his parents

died young: his mother at twenty-eight--at which time his

father moved him and his three siblings to the home of the

paternal grandparents. His father died at thirty-two. The four

children were raised by the grandparents and an Uncle. The

grandfather was owner and operator of BURKE'S INN, a

generational business begun previous to the First World War.

Wayne F. Burke attended public school, and after graduating

from High School, three institutions of higher learning before

graduating from Goddard College in 1979 (B.A. RUP). After

graduation he traveled around the country, living in a variety

of places and working at a variety of occupations (presently,

he is employed as an LPN in a nursing home). In the late-

80's he located himself in the central Vermont area and has

remained since. He published mostly prose until 2013 when

his first poetry collection was published. He was fifty-eight

years old. ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET CROUTON is his

7th published poetry collection. A book of short stories, titled

TURMOIL & Other Stories, is scheduled for publication by

Adelaide Press in 2020.