Mario Alejandro Ariza is a Dominican immigrant to the United States who grew up in Santo Domingo and Miami. He is currently a Michener Fellow in poetry at the University of Miami’s Master in Fine Arts program, and he holds a Master’s degree in Hispanic Cultural Studies from Columbia University.  He has held a waiter-ship from the Breadloaf Writer’s conference, is the winner of the 2015 Small Axe magazine poetry contest, and was a 2016 CantoMundo fellow. His poetry can be found in Gulf Coast, The Raleigh Review, The Baffler, Luna Luna, and The Rumpus. You can find his feature journalism in places like The Atlantic and The Miami New Times, and The New Tropic. His essays appear in Cigar Snob Magazine and The New Inquiry.