I am a native New Yorker, raised in Roslyn on Long Island. Now I live in Puerto Escondido on the Oaxaca coast of Mexico, by way of Ibiza, Buenos Aires, and Berkeley.

I heard someone on the radio say that poets were people who explore their feelings so that other people don't have to. I think that's carrying the idea of the division of labor a step too far; but emotions are the stuff of my poetry. In fact, I would not have had the strength to follow my feelings or impulses if it were not for the equally strong desire to write about them.

I've dedicated this site to the macaques of Catemaco, but I must have had in mind my son, Gabriel Lautaro Schaffer (a.k.a. DJ Riddm) who as a child had many monkey-like qualities.

I wish to thank Jorge Guerra and Elo’sa Mart’nez Silva for their help with the Spanish translations. Thanks also to Abisai Morales Ram’rez and José Eduardo (Lalo) Sierra who turned my ideas of what my website should look like into reality.