Scott Hightower (born in 1952 in Lampasas, Texas) is an American poet and teacher. Hightower is the author of three books of poetry. His third, Part of the Bargain, won the 2004 Hayden Carruth Award. He has also been awarded a Willis Barnstone Translation Prize for a translation from Spanish.
Hightower was the third child of a family that lived on a modest working ranch near Lometa, a small town in central Texas. Like many rural American families of that time, it was a family to be met by challenges. His father, Berley Hightower, was a cowboy/rancher. The first week of August, 1952, Joyce Blauvelt Hightower gave birth to her third child on a Monday. On Wednesday of the same week, she was diagnosed with polio.
Hightower earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin, his Master of Education from Juarez-Lincoln University in Austin (an affiliate of Antioch University), and his Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University. While studying at Columbia, he won the Academy of American Poets Prize.
His first three books, without the lament of victimhood, incorporate the loss of his brother to AIDS, his sister to breast cancer. There are also reflections of their mother's earlier bout with polio. The themes of spirit captured in matter are archetypal and poeticly compelling.
Hightower's poetry reviews often appear in The Journal, Manhattan Review, Coldfront Magazine, and other national journals. He has taught writing at New York University (Gallatin School), Fordham University, Drew University, the Gay Men's Health Crisis, and F.I.T.. He lives in New York City.
Hightower is also a political activist. He is an advocate of developed countries stepping away from the Death Penalty. He is also supportive of basic civil liberties such as access to healthcare and education. He is concerned with biases based on gender, race, and sexual orientation. Hightower likes animals and encourages responsible care. He expresses a specific sympathy on behalf of sanctuaries for butterflies, birds, retired elephants, and horses.