I fell in love with formal verse early, as many children do. I discovered the heroic couplet in college and specialized in 18th-century British literature in graduate school, earning a PhD at Columbia University. I taught both required and elective courses at Hunter College, Lehman College, and other schools. My teaching outside academic circles includes creative writing at The Lighthouse (New York Association for the Blind), and three poetry workshops funded in part by Poets & Writers. I have given many public readings of my work, for many of which I was paid by the sponsoring organization; for some I was awarded grants by Poets & Writers. I've studied sonnets with R.S. Gwynn, rhyme with Mary Jo Salter, blank verse with Alfred Corn, and ghazals with Agha Shahid Ali. I have taken master classes with Richard Howard and Molly Peacock. One of my sonnets took second prize in a contest judged by Rita Dove.