Ursula T. Gibson, Poetry Editor since 1997 for Poetic Voices (www.poeticvoices.com) intended to be a choral conductor, but she won the first Dorothy Kaucher Award for Excellence in Oral Interpretation in 1951 and was captured by poetry and short story readings.  Since 1988, when she seriously began writing, she's composed 676 poems, of which about a third are worth two readings.  Her three chapbooks, Eyes (1990), Two Tujunga Poets (1993), and Spirited (1960) which also was recorded by her as a CD, were followed by the manual, Be Prepared, Don't Mumble, Look UP! or How to Read Poetry Aloud in 2003.  Now, the collection of 68 of her poems, The Blossoms of the Night-Blooming Cereus, was published in May 2005 and is available from the publisher or through Barnes & Noble.  She is a member of the California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc., and of California State Poetry Society and reads at local poetry venues regularly.  She has been a legal secretary since 1956 and a California Certified Legal Secretary since 1989 when the test first was given.  Her husband, their two cats, and she live in Southern California in a valley north of Glendale.

Her book, The Blossoms of the Night-Blooming Cereus, was awarded first place in the DIY Book Festival Poetry.