Cole, Ravenna: - Ravenna Cole grew up in a trailer in rural Pennsylvania and moved to the Arizona desert when she was in high school. Raised in non-denominational churches, she left her faith behind while studying philosophy in college. It was during her preparation for a PhD dissertation on Kierkegaard that she started to take Christianity seriously again, which ultimately led to her reception into the Catholic Church.Cole is cast in the mold of ancient philosophers, for whom thinking is done while walking and talking and ideas are tried in the fires of life. After her conversion, she adopted a nomadic life in search of a more poetic way to dwell, living most of the last decade on a small sailboat with her husband and four children. Cole began writing poetry seriously after the birth of her first child and studied for a time in a creative writing MFA program but left it to pursue a poetic vision outside of the academy. She currently divides her time between Florida and Alaska.