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Joe Weil (born March 24, 1958) is an American poet renowned for his humor, story telling and eloquence. He currently teaches undergraduate and graduate creative writing classes at Binghamton University.

Weil grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey and was described by The New York Times as personifying that town: "working-class, irreverent, modest, but open to the world and filled with a wealth of possibilities."

Weil's mother died of cancer when he was 17. Weil dropped out of Rutgers University to care for his ill father, a former boxer and glue-factory worker who became alcoholic. After his father's death, Weil became homeless. He found work in factories, and eventually found long-term work at National Tool.

Weil was a pivotal character at the Fringe Gallery and Performance Space in Newark, New Jersey from 1996 until the Fringe closed its doors in 2003. He also directed a poetry series at the Sumei center for the arts in Newark where he featured the poet, Amiri Baraka. Weil's gritty realism and vision of blue collar existence combined with an edgy humor has made him a major contributor to the Fringe, the Newark Arts Community and the accessibility of poetry to all listeners. From 1989 until 2005, Joe Weil hosted the PoetsWednesday series at the Baron art center in Woodbridge, New Jersey with fellow poets, Edie Eustace, and Deborah Laveglia. Founded by Edie Eustace in 1978, PoetsWednesday is the longest running series in New Jersey. During Weil's tenure, the series featured such now well known poets as Hal Sirowitz, Kurtis Lambkin, David Roskos, and Bob Holman as well as Maria Mazziotti Gillan and Lamont B. Steptoe, winners of the American Book Award.

Weil's latest book is "The Plumber's Apprentice," published in 2009 by New York Quarterly. He is currently poetry editor of Ragazine, an online journal, and continues to compose music. As a musician, Weil has played with the jazz saxophone player and composer Sweet Sue Terry, the clarinetist Perry Robinson, and Vic Ruggiero, Weil's former roommate and keyboardist and songwriter for The Slackers. In 2006, Vic Ruggiero produced a CD of Weil's poems and songs called "I Hate Life."

In 2008, Weil published two books of poetry, Painting the Christmas Trees (Texas A & M University Press) and What Remains (Nightshade Press). These books contain some of his best-known poems, such as "Elegy for Sue Rapeezi," "Ode to Elizabeth," "Fists (for My Father)," "Morning at Elizabeth Arch," and "The Dead Are in My Living Room," which appeared in earlier chapbooks published by David Roskos of Iniquity Press/Vendetta books. The fall of 2008 saw Weil perform with Patricia Smith and Jan Beatty at the Geraldine R. Dodge poetry festival. Weil's poetry was also profiled in an NJPBS special,(See youtube, Joe weil, NJPBS) a decade after he appeared on Bill Moyer's PBS documentary, "Fooling With Words." His poem "The Dead Are In My Living Room" was chosen as a featured poem for St. Patrick's Day on "Best American Poetry" online, and Weil has created a public morning Facebook show which now has 460 members.

Weil continues to live in Vestal, New York, and is an activist for student poetry series at the Belmar Bar as well as acting as the Binghamton National slam team coach. He is currently in a band called the Mooks.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Joe Weil", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0