He studied American minority literature and Old and Middle English on an NDEA Title IV fellowship at the University of Nevada, Reno, then began a pilot project with the Poetry in the Schools program in Washington state.
He founded and directed the popular Port Townsend Writers Conference for Centrum and appeared in two feature films: An Officer and a Gentleman and The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (CBS).
Learning the Ropes (Utah State University Press), a collection of poetry, short fiction and essays, was billed as "a creative autobiography."
His 1973 poetry collection Finding True North & Critter was nominated for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
Jaguar, a 1990 Ace paperback, came out on the internet via Alexandria Digital Literature in 1999, and was the first novel to outstrip short stories for the bestseller slot.