Mitch was raised in the Entiat Valley, and has worked in orchards, sawmills, construction, sales, ambulance driving, and a couple stints bartending. It took him three colleges and 29 years to get a BA in English, and then he completed an MA in Rhetoric and Composition and the coursework for an MFA at the University of Montana, but left without taking the degree. His desire to write poetry came from reading the Harlem poets, Sylvia Plath, and Nicanor Parra.