Mark grew up in a small Milwaukee Railroad town in western Montana where he listened to records, played sports, and married his high school sweetheart.
In high school, Mark was in a poetry workshop taught by an (at the time) unknown poet, James Welch. A student of Richard Hugo’s, Welch gave the students permission to write poetry in their own voice, out of their life experiences. Gibbons has been writing ever since.
Over the course of twenty-five years, Mark earned his BAs in English and Psychology from the University of Montana, and his MFA in creative writing. He was the first college graduate in his family.
His poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, and in 2012 began working with Foothills Publishing, where his last three collections, Forgotten Dreams, Shadowboxing, and The Imitation Blues were released.
Mark now lives in Missoula with his wife, Pam, and their two cats, where he teaches poetry for The Missoula Writing Collaborative.