Born and raised in suburban Pennsylvania, he graduated from Columbia University.

He is currently a Professor of English at William Paterson University in New Jersey. He has lived in New York City since 1971.

His book Jailbait and Other Stories was selected by Donald Barthelme for a Pushcart Foundation Writer's Choice Award. His writing has appeared in the Paris Review, Partisan Review, Bomb, the New Republic, Harper's Bazaar, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Out, New York, the Los Angeles Times Book Review, The Nation, Travel + Leisure, and American Poetry Review.

His most acclaimed work is a biography of the poet Frank O'Hara, City Poet. His book, Finding the Boyfriend Within, calls for gay men to cultivate self-respect by cultivating an imaginary lover.