Chicago-born author associated with the New York school of poets, he was on the staff of the Museum of Modern Art. He is the winner of the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

His first poems, Salute, part of a series to which the other members of the school also contributed, showed their close relation to painting by being issued with prints that are not intended to be illustrative but are just as important as the texts. He has also written experimental plays and novels.