Michael Scharf (poet)

Michael Scharf
Born	Michael Nathan Scharf (1969-01-06) January 6, 1969 Albany, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Poet, critic
Education	Vassar College (AB) Brown University (MA)

Michael Nathan Scharf (born January 6, 1969, in Albany, New York) is an American poet and critic. Scharf's poetry "mimics a vernacular language so debased it does actual harm." He was poetry reviews editor at Publishers Weekly from 1997 until 2006. At Poets & Writers magazine, he founded and wrote the column Metromania. In 1999, he founded Harry Tankoos Books, which publishes books and chapbooks; in 2006, with the poet Joshua Clover, he co-founded the small press ingirumimusnocteetconsumimurigni, publisher of Kevin Killian's Action Kylie, among other books. He holds an A.B. in cognitive science from Vassar College, and a M.A. in linguistics from Brown University. His work has appeared in Chain, ubuweb, Jacket, the Germ, and the Poetry Daily Essentials anthology.

Works

• Telemachiad (sugarhigh!, 1999), 64pp.
• Vérité (/ubu, 2002), 58pp.
• For Kid Rock / Total Freedom (Spectacular, 2007), 96pp
• Autoportraits from an Earlier Era (SA editions, 2009), 13pp.

Essays & Articles

• Scharf on the use of poetry criticism in Jacket Magazine, 2000 [1]
• Scharf on Austrian writers’ protests in Poets & Writers, [2]
• Scharf on Meghalaya, India in Change Observer [3]

Reviews of Scharf's Work

• For Kid Rock / Total Freedom, Stop Smiling, 2007. [4]
• Vérité, Overlap, 2003 [5]
• Vérité, Pantaloons, 2004 [6]
• Telemachiad, A Tonalist Notes, 2006 [7]