Michael Schiffman

I am a senior poet residing in Reading, Pa., one of our country's poorest cities. I live in the downtown and am confronted daily by the facts of poverty and its running mate, racism. These facts color what I write, even if not always overtly. I attended Dartmouth College (B.A.) and Columbia University (M.A.). My last job of eighteen years was as a wine salesman/manager/educator. I've had my poems appear in half a dozen publications. I've "sort of" educated myself attending summer workshops (Bread Loaf, Skidmore, U Va., and the Vermont College of Fine Arts).

“Can Poetry Matter?,” “A Brown Study” and “Away from It All”

Left the wine importer’s tasting,
denied a restorative cup of joe,
I passed out on a Manhattan subway platform.
The ambulance drivers lugged me
me up to the street, where I signed and was
allowed to go. Before wine the arid years
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