I was born in San Diego, California. I have lived in British Columbia (Canada), Washington (not D.C.), South Carolina, Connecticut, Massachhusetts, U.S. Virgin Islands, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Alabama, and New York. In that order. Currrently, I live in Pomfret, Connecticut, with my wife Deb and our all-black Norwegian Forest Cat, Mr. Bibbs. Deb and I have one son who, with his wife, three cats, and collection of well-played basses, lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Though I started writing songs shortly after the first British Invasion, stand-alone poems became my art of choice in high school while studying at Williston Academy with, among others, the extraordinary artist Barry Moser and Wiffenpoofs arranger Richard Gregory. Under the influence of my MFA mentors at Vermont College of Fine Arts (David Wojahn, Jonathan Holden, Sydney Lea, and Jack Myers), I began to let my poetic and theological obsessions speak to each other.
I have been told that I must therefore write religious poems. My response, without hesitation: "I do not." In a 1976 conversation with sculptor Isamu Noguchi (he was carrying a thick book on art and religion), I asked whether he thought of himself as more religious or secular in the practice of his art. "You cannot separate art and the Spirit in human experience," he replied. At root, my poems are merely human, things made by one who, like everyone else, struggles to live and love well.
For academic year 2011-2012, I am teaching at the College of the Holy Cross (MA). I have also taught at Eastern Connecticut State University, Pomfret School (CT), and The Stony Brook School (NY).
