Michael Burkard

Michael Paul Burkard (1947 – December 23, 2024) was an American poet and educator born in Rome, New York. He authored at least ten volumes of poetry, including Envelope of Night, My Secret Boat, and Ruby for Grief, and taught creative writing at institutions such as Syracuse University, Sarah Lawrence College, and the University of Louisville. Burkard received the Whiting Writers’ Award, the Alice Fay di Castagnola Award, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, with his poems appearing in The Best American Poetry anthologies multiple times.