Born in Miami Beach, Florida, Michael Rothenberg, received his BA in English at UNC-Chapel Hill. An unemployed English major, he moved to California in 1976, where he began Shelldance Nursery, an orchid and bromeliad nursery. In 1993 he recieved his MA in Poetics at New College of California. In 1989, Rothenberg and artist Nancy Davis began Big Bridge Press, a fine print literary press, publishing works by Jim Harrison, Joanne Kyger, Allen Ginsberg, Philip Whalen and others. Big Bridge is presently online with a litzine that can be reached at: http://www.bigbridge.org. Rothenberg's poems have appeared in Berkeley Poetry Review, Cafe Review, Croton Review, Eratica, Exquisite Corpse, Ironwood, Mudlark, Nerve Bundle Review, Rolling Stock, Sycamore Review, and other publications. His books include What The Fish Saw, Nightmare Of The Violins, Man/Woman, and Favorite Songs. In 1990 Rothenberg began writing songs. His songs have appeared in films by Hollywood Pictures, Shadowhunter and Black Day, Blue Night. Other songs have been recorded on albums.
I would grope over stones, sunsets, coats in the street
to reach you in the wreck of leaves, icy yardsthrough old obedience
press my shoulders to the load, bone, sunriseLoving you would be tough, naked, eye to eye