Jim Ryder has lived in the DTES for the best part of the past twenty three years. He has been writing since 2008 and has been published in Megaphone, Poetry is Dead, White Rabbit Literary Quarterly and Geist. Jim became a Poet after he failed at everything else he attempted due to a myriad of physical and mental health problems. His favourite form of poetry is the classic "ballad stanza" with an a,b,c,b rhyme scheme, although he also enjoys writing more contemporary "Hip-Hop" style lyrics as well. His classical influences include: Poe, Rilke and Shakespeare while his contemporary influences include Eazy E, Jay Z and Eminem.