Tom awoke to poetry when he heard Wallace Stevens' poems read on the PBS series "Voices and Visions."  Much later, he got into writing poetry seriously as a result of trying to become a better lyricist. He took classes with Dean Kostos at Gotham Writers Workshop, Elaine Equi and Patricia Carlin at the New School. His work has appeared in the webzine Choler and in print in Gathering of the Tribes issue # 11. Tom collaborated with painter Vicky Stadler on "Case 58 -Psychopathia Sexualis, " a painting with text accompiament. His major inflluences are Anne Sexton , William Carlos Williams,   Sylvia Plath, surrealist poetry and Elaine Equi.