W.D. Ehrhart

W.D. (William Daniel) Ehrhart was born and raised in Pennsylvania. He joined the US Marine Corps in 1966 after graduating from high school and served until 1969; he spent 13 months of his service in Vietnam. Ehrhart then went on to earn bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. He has since worked as a high school teacher, merchant seaman, reporter, and legal aide for the Pennsylvania Department of Justice. An active lecturer and speaker, he has published memoirs and essays about Vietnam.
 
Ehrhart’s poems present straightforward, candid portrayals of experience; he often allows his narrators’ accounts and observations of events to stand without overt explanation. He has written about the Vietnam War and is known as a Vietnam War poet, but his subjects also include encounters with friends and family, and observations of the world around him—for instance, the death of a friend, memories of his grandmother, and his urban Philadelphia neighborhood. He has cited his wife and daughter as influences on his writing. Ehrhart lives in Philadelphia.