Michael Koch, a painter, poet, and translator who works with the mentally ill, crosses regularly between the animal, mineral, and vegetable realms, sometimes in utter disarray, sometimes with fierce aplomb. He was bitten by fire ants as a child, and has Sagittarius rising and Venus in Leo. His translations have appeared in Light from a Nearby Window (City Lights Books), Soup, Durak, Compages, and other publications.