In all, he has written three full-length collections and four prizewinning chapbooks. His work has appeared in Poetry, The New Yorker, The Gettysburg Review, The American Scholar, Best American Poetry and The Pushcart Prize Anthology. He is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and numerous other awards.

For 21 years, he worked as a New York City public school teacher. He has also been on faculty at many writing conferences, in addition to several colleges and MFA programs. Most recently, he was Distinguished Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at Western Kentucky University. He is also the founding editor of Jane Street Press, an independent poetry press in New York City.