He is the author of a poetry collection, Slippers for Elsewhere (UpSet Press, 2014), and a children's book, Enormous Smallness: A Story of E. E. Cummings (Enchanted Lion Books, 2015). He edited an anthology of visual art and writing titled Dream Closet: Meditations on Childhood Space (Secretary Press, 2016), and two children's books are forthcoming: Drawing on Walls: A Story of Keith Haring (ELB, 2019) and The Unbudgeable Curmudgeon (Knopf, 2019). Burgess recently wrote and co-produced a short film titled, Dear Henri, which premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival in May 2017 and has travelled to more than ten festivals worldwide. A poet-in-residence in New York City public schools since 2001, he also serves as a contributing editor of Teachers & Writers Magazine.