Amid bindweed and migrating hummingbirds, Mary Cisper lives with her husband in northern New Mexico.
A sometime chemist, she was once on intimate terms with ion trap mass spectrometers in search of ultra-low detection limits. Her poems and reviews have been published in various journals including Colorado Review, Mid-American Review, PoetryNow, Denver Quarterly, ZYZZYVA, Lana Turner, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Water-Stone Review, Newfound, and Omniverse.
In early 2017 Trio House Press published Cisper's first collection, Dark Tussock Moth, selected by Bhisham Bherwani for the 2016 Trio Award.
Her admiration for the artist and naturalist, Maria Sibylla Merian, was sparked by Google’s April 2, 2013 doodle celebrating Maria’s 366th birthday.
In 2023, her chapbook, The Particles, was published by Thixotropic Press.