Mike Jurkovic is the 2025–2027 Ulster County Poet Laureate, an acclaimed American poet, broadcaster, music critic, and literary arts advocate based in New York’s Hudson Valley. His most recent poetry collection, Circling Planes (Bushwhack Books), is forthcoming in 2026. His earlier collections include Buckshot Reckoning (2023), mooncussers (2022), and AmericanMental (2020), all published by Luchador Press. He is also the author of the haiku collections Monet’s Bamboo (CAPS Press, 2025) and Blue Fan Whirring (Nirala Press, 2018).
Mike’s poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies, including Poets for Harris (Viewless Wings Press, 2024), Calling All Poets 20th and 25th Anniversary Anthologies (CAPS Press), Like Light: 25 Years of Poetry & Prose (Bright Hill Press, 2018), and Reflecting Pool: Poets & the Creative Process (Codhill Press, 2018). He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2016.
A passionate champion of literature and the arts, Mike serves as President of the Calling All Poets Series, one of New York State’s longest-running literary reading series, and is Co-chair of the Music Fan Film Series at the Rosendale Theatre in Rosendale, New York. He is also a respected jazz critic, contributing CD reviews to All About Jazz and Lightwood Press, and hosts NuJazzXcursions, a weekly radio programme on WVKR-FM 91.3, Vassar College.
Mike Jurkovic’s work is celebrated for its lyrical precision, wit, musicality, and deep engagement with both the natural world and contemporary American life. Above all, he says, he loves Emily most of all.