He began his academic career at Wichita State University. He was also a Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the first Creative Writing director of the MFA program created there in 2003. Now, he is a professor emeritus. His poems have appeared in ''The Gettysburg Review'', ''The Hudson Review'', ''The Kenyon Review'', ''Southern Review'', and other highly respected journals.