Alan Asselin was raised in a small town in New Hampshire. He started writing poetry and designing houses when he was 13 years old. He joined the US Air Force in 1971 and almost immediately joined protests against the war in Vietnam; he was discharged in 1972. He helped raise a family, mostly in Vermont, and ran a business designing houses. He’s been in Boston since 2006, unemployed since 2009, homeless for the last two years. For the last 18 months or so he has been busy working with other Veterans in reading and discussion groups, and, especially, facilitating and attending Warrior Writers poetry workshops. His work can be seen in the 2014 Warrior Writers Anthology, and he is working on a book of poetry.

"Poetry might be a good icebreaker. But really, we can talk about anything from my niece and her new puppy to President Obama's recent calling out of Christian extremists."