Michael Casey
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Michael Casey (born 1947 in Lowell, Massachusetts) is an American poet.
His first collection, Obscenities, was chosen by Stanley Kunitz for the [1] Yale Series of Younger Poets. Other collections include Millrat (Adastra Press), The Million Dollar Hole (Orchises Press), Raiding a Whorehouse (Adastra), Permanent Party (March Street Press), Cindi's Fur Coat (The Chuckwagon), and The Bopper (Kendra Steiner Editions).
[edit] Education
Casey received a B.S. in Physics from Lowell Institute of Technology where he had the fortune of taking a class with poet William Aiken.
After military service, Casey began an MS in physics at SUNY Buffalo. With the publication of Obscenities, however, he changed course and pursued creative studies, studying under poets John Logan and Irving Feldman. His master's thesis was an early version of Millrat; his advisor for the project was the poet William Sylvester.
[edit] Life and work
After graduating college in 1968, Casey was drafted into the U.S. Army. His stay at Fort Leonardwood, Missouri provided the material for the later book, The Million Dollar Hole; his work as military police officer in Vietnam's Quang Ngai province is rendered in his debut collection, Obscenities.
Casey brought Alan Dugan's Poems with him to Vietnam. While in Vietnam, Casey discovered, in a book package delivered for the troops, Donald Allen's New American Poetry anthology and, in particular, the early work of poet Edward Field.
