Gerald McCarthy was born in Endicott, New York, the eldest son of an Italian mother and Irish–American father. He left home at age seventeen to join the Marines, served a tour of duty in Vietnam, then deserted the military. After he was released from military prison and civilian jail, McCarthy worked as a stonecutter, shoe factory worker and anti-war activist. Later he attended the University of Iowa's Writers Workshop and taught writing at Attica Prison and in migrant labor camps, jails and schools. Trouble Light, a new collection of his poetry, will be published by West End Press/University of New Mexico Press this Fall 2008.