Michael was born in New York City and raised in Roslyn, New York. He has a BA in English from Oberlin College and an MFA in Poetry from The University of Iowa.
His first book, Void and Compensation, was published by Canarium Books in April of 2015 and was a Finalist for the 2016 Kate Tufts Discovery Prize. Michael has published poems in various journals— including A Public Space, The American Poetry Review, jubilat, The Literary Review, Ploughshares, Spinning Jenny, and Tin House— and in the anthologies Broken Land: Poems of Brooklyn; Starting Today: 100 Poems for Obama’s First 100 Days; and The Best American Poetry, 2012. A recipient of fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and residencies at MacDowell, Ucross, Willapa Bay AiR, VCCA, Vermont Studio Center, and Yaddo, he lives in Brooklyn, New York, and teaches at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School.
Michael teaches poetry classes at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival and the Summer Program Workshops at the Fine Arts Work Center. He is also a poetry editor at The Literary Review.