Chris Stroffolino (born 20 March 1963 in Reading, Pennsylvania) is an American poet, writer, musician, critic, performer, and author of 12 books of poetry and prose. He worked alongside Steve Malkmus and David Berman on The Silver Jews' American Water (1998 Drag City). Stroffolino attended Albright College, Temple University, Bard College, and The University of Massachusetts Amherst before receiving a Ph.D. at State University of New York at Albany with a dissertation on William Shakespeare in 1998. Poetry Early performance poetry After moving to Philadelphia in 1986, Stroffolino auditioned for Lamont Steptoe of the Painted Bride Art Center and became a part of Philadelphia's spoken word scene alongside writers such as C.A. Conrad, Linh Dinh, Candace Kaucher, and Jerome Robinson. Stroffolino's first book of poems, Incidents (At The Corner of Desire & Disgust) was published by David Roskos's Vendatta Books (Iniquity Press) in 1990. Stroffolino co-edited The Painted Bride Quarterly from 1988–1990, worked on the local anarchist zine, Talk Is Cheap, and co-founded the underground punk warehouse, KillTime Place in 1989 while organizing reading series at The Schmidt-Dean Gallery and Borders Books. Stroffolino's next book, "Oops" (published by Boulder Colorado's backyard press in 1991; republished by Pavement Saw Press in 1994) consisted of poems published in magazines but seldom performed at readings. It reached a wider audience across the country. New York years In the early '90s, Stroffolino left Philadelphia to attend the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and SUNY-Albany, receiving a Ph.D. in 1998 with a dissertation on Shakespeare's middle comedies. In the meantime, he published Cusps (Edge Books, 1995), Light As A Fetter, (1997) and Stealer's Wheel (1999), performing his work from the Lollapalooza tour alongside Jeffrey McDaniel and David Baratier to SUNY-Buffalo's New Coast Conference. Stealer's Wheel was praised by John Ashbery and James Tate, and Graham Foust wrote that "there's more of what's great in Ashbery and Tate in [Stealer's Wheel] than there is in most Ashbery and Tate." Stroffolino's early mentor was John Yau. In the 21st century, Stroffolino published Scratch Vocals (2002), Speculative Primitive (2004), and An Anti-Emeryvillification Manifesto (2007). Music Silver Jews Stroffolino joined David Berman and Steve Malkmus to play on The Silver Jews' American Water; his keyboard and trumpet can be heard most prominently on "The Wild Kindness" and "Random Rules". A longtime busker, this was Stroffolino's first experience in a studio. Session work In the 21st century, Stroffolino has recorded or performed