In 1970, his poetry book, "License to Carry a Gun," won the "Big Table Poetry Award". He moved to San Francisco in 1970, and lived on the West Coast for seven years, four of those in Monte Rio, a Sonoma County town on the Russian River. He also lived in Baltimore (where he taught at Johns Hopkins University), New Orleans and Baton Rouge, publishing a book every year. During this time he wrote poetry, stories, essays and reviews for many publications, including "The New York Times", the "Chicago Tribune", the "Los Angeles Times", "Harper's", and the "Paris Review". He had regular columns in "The Baltimore Sun", the "City Paper", "Architecture", "Funny Times", "Gambit Weekly", and "Neon".