Mark Strand (born April 11, 1934) is an American poet, essayist, and translator. In 1981, Strand was elected a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters. He served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress during the 1990-1991 term. Strand has received numerous awards including a MacArthur Fellowship in 1987 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for A Blizzard of One.

At the very least, Mark Strand is one of the most readable poets around. He's neither too obscure nor too obvious, and if his example were more widely followed then contemporary poetry might find a sizable audience. The poem "The Continuous Life" says everything that needs saying about the joys, hopes, fears, tensions, and emptiness of middle-class existence--or perhaps just plain human existence--and note how well the cascading rhythm matches its theme. It reminded me of James Salter's novel "Light Years," but Strand manages to compress his vision into a mere 28 lines. As an observer of the human comedy, he's quite perceptive.