Five years ago, at the age of 43, Michael gave up the "compromise" job and committed himself to "making my living as a poet."  Since that time he has worked with thousands of students in numerous schools as poet-in-residence, conducted various writing workshops for all ages of writers at libraries, museums and writers' organizations and has been featured at well over 200 readings throughout the country. 

When not working as a poet (does poetry work ever stop?) Michael homesteads in the hills of New York State with his wife and children.   They live on a 50 acres parcel of land atop a high hill (2,000' elevation) in the western Finger Lakes. Most of the nearby neighbors are old-order, horse-and-buggy Amish. 

"Haibun is a Japanese literary form that combines prose and haiku. Matsuo Basho, the great 17th century haiku master of Japan, wrote of his walking journeys throughout Japan in haibun. I first read those accounts about 20 years ago. Now I use that form for writing about the poetic journeys that I embark on."

Michael began writing poetry in his junior year of high school, 33 years ago. He gave his first public reading in 1985. Since then he has facilitated and helped form three different writers' groups, organized well over 200 readings and has been a featured reader at more than 250 venues. FootHills Publishing, a small press started by Michael in 1985, has published 30 books by 17 different poets, including three anthologies.

The natural world, his lifestyle, family, Chinese and Japanese poetry, the road and the eternal quest of how we should best live this all-too-brief life influence his writing.   

Last autumn Michael journeyed in a car for 30 days along the length of the Mississippi River, from Lake Itasca, MN to Venice, LA. Along the way he visited schools, gave poetry readings, delved into the natural and human history of the region, wrote a daily newspaper column for the Corning Leader and a daily journmal report for 21 schools in three states. A book about the journey, written in haibun, will be published later this year. 

• Mississippi River Haiku
• Mississippi River Haiku, Part 2
• Mississippi River Haiku, Part 3