From 1968 to 1987, while continuing to write poetry, he assisted in managing a 350-person men's-clothing factory in Farmington, Missouri, and started one of the Midwest's first factory-outlet apparel chains.
From 1980 to 1991, he taught English and creative writing, part-time, at Mineral Area College, in nearby Flat River.
From 1987 onward, he lived in St. Louis, with his wife and his daughter and son, and devoted himself to composing poems and short fictions.
Brodsky's You Can’t Go Back, Exactly won the Center for Great Lakes Culture's, Michigan State University 2004 best book of poetry award.
His most recent books of poetry include A Mississippi Trilogy and The Words of My Mouth and The Meditations of My Heart, which he wrote during his year-plus-long journey living with brain cancer.