A former marine, CLEATUS RATTAN ranches a hundred miles west of Fort Worth near the little town of Cisco, a small town of some three thousand souls cinched by the Bible Belt. He is the author of two poetry chapbooks: Free of the Flesh and 130 Miles to Dallas, winner of the 1982 Texas Review Poetry Prize; in 1996 he won the Mesquite Prize and in 2002 the New Texas Poetry Prize. He was named Poet Laureate of the State of Texas for 2004.

"Wise and savvy, Cleatus Rattan's The Border re-creates with delicacy, humor, and craftsmanship allegories from the hard-scrabble living out West Texas way. Not surprisingly, the truths out there are the same as the truths everywhere, in any time, in any heart." --Jack Myers

"When you read a poem by Cleatus Rattan, you know what's important—family. And, of course, humor. There's a feeling of continuity, of pattern, of this is the way life should be when you read his poetry. Any words I say will not do justice to the depths of love, of understanding, of humanity that come through these poems." --Donna Walker Nixon

"The Border is a hearty collection of memories by a poet with an eye for detail and a sensitivity for resuscitating the emotions of the past with artistry. Cleatus Rattan's smooth Southwestern voice brings a warm charm to his litany of elegies for places, mentors, old friends, and relatives." --Dave Parsons

"Cleatus Rattan's poems just keep getting better and better, year after year. Rattan's poems are like old friends you hope will never die." --Jim Linebarger