Let's make this birthday one to remember.

79 years old (Born on August 29, 1945)

Happy Birthday, Christopher! Another year wiser and still rhyming circles around the rest of us. With eight poetry books under your belt and a Pushcart Prize gleaming on your shelf, you've officially earned poetic immortality—or at least bragging rights at faculty meetings.

Your dedication as director of Eastern Washington University Press has inspired countless writers (and probably exhausted just as many editors). May this birthday bring you laughter louder than an open mic night mishap, joy deeper than literary metaphors, and cake sweeter than critics' praise. Here's to another stanza-filled trip around the sun—keep making words dance!