Joe McKenzie grew up in Philadelphia, went to colleges in Pennsylvania, Kansas and Colorado. He enjoyed a long career in libraries, while writing as many poems as would come, retiring as Director of the Salina Public Library. He has been active in the community and continues to volunteer. He has been commissioned to write and read a series of poems on Andy Warhol's electric chair paintings at the Salina Art Center. He was a New Voice Award winner as part of the Annual Spring Poetry Reading Series in Salina, Ks. He lives with his wife, Mary Lou, in Salina, visits his granddaughters in Kansas City often and enjoys traveling to see his son and daughter-in-law in France and his family on the east coast.