Michael Scharf (poet)

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, publisher of Kevin Killian's Action Kylie, among other books. He holds a B.A. 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
 * Scharf on Austrian writers’ protests in Poets & Writers,
 * Scharf on Meghalaya, India in Change Observer

Reviews of Scharf's Work

 * For Kid Rock / Total Freedom, Stop Smiling, 2007.
 * Vérité, Overlap, 2003
 * Vérité, Pantaloons, 2004
 * Telemachiad, A Tonalist Notes, 2006