Though Simmons B. Buntin’s terrain has varied from the scrub oak hammocks of central Florida to the thorny scarps of the Sonoran Desert, the rolling hardwood hills of Maryland to the flagstone trails of the Colorado Front Range, his path seems always directed by the pursuit of an eloquent balance between the built and natural environments. He has published poetry and prose in a variety of publications, from his neighborhood's The Town Crier to the leading environmental magazine Orion. He has a master's degree in urban and regional planning, concluded by an award-winning thesis on sustainable suburban downtown redevelopment.

Shortly after graduate school—back in 1997 or thereabouts—he founded and today continues to edit Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments.

Simmons transitioned from energy services program manager for the U.S. Department of Energy's Western Area Power Administration, after a stint in the software development world, to the role of web program manager for the University of Arizona's Eller College of Management.

He is currently pursuing an MFA in creative writing (nonfiction) at the UA, and lives in the Community of Civano in southeast Tucson, Arizona with his wife and two daughters.

Simmons readily admits that poetry and prose—the written or spoken word, the interplay of slight magic in the relationships of those things around and within us—must be at the heart of any successful, livable place. Composing the language is a brilliantly frustrating task, involving intricate details and entire communities. But it is the vital structure of our terrain, the stability and the change we need to survive. And to thrive.

He has won an Academy of American Poets Prize, Colorado Artist's Fellowship for Poetry, and Tucson-Pima Arts Council grant. His first book of poetry, Riverfall, was published in May 2005 by Ireland's Salmon Poetry.

Besides his family, Simmons's interests include writing and photography (hence the website), the nexus between the built and natural environments (hence Terrain.org), sustainable community design (including New Urbanism), hiking, Harry Potter, microbreweries and brewpubs, Subaru Outbacks, Auburn Tigers football, and Halloween festivities. View some of his other "favorites" here.

 
Check out the links to the right for more details, or contact Simmons.