Jeff Brown had this to say about his poem: "i was born in arlington, texas in 1973 and lived there most of my life until moving to boston a few years ago. my poems have appeared in various publications as well as several online forums such as taverner's koans and spoken war. in june of 1997, i was featured in real audio at the ann arbor poetry forum, and i'm currently being featured (also in real audio) at audionet books. it was the coldest and harshest night of winter when i composed "the improbable life of m". sonny bono had just died, and, on the cover of a monthly news periodical, i noted a title which read "the improbable life of sonny bono". the phrase struck me quite profoundly. what makes a life "improbable"...? for m, hope lurks just around the corner, but he/she is suspicious of it and suspects it of catastrophe and ill-omen, trusting, instead, in those things that are unreliable such as the ceiling or the shopping list. but, as the poem draws near its end, there is some question as to whether or not the approaching spring is just another manifestation of m's tottering existence..."