Born in Rochester, New York, Steve Kupferschmid aspired to a career in music. After three years as a trombone and theory major at the Mannes College of Music, he played the trombone in show bands in Catskill Mountains resorts, on the road with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and, after earning a bachelor’s degree at the University of Bridgeport, did club dates in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, where his children, Benjamin and Carolyn, were born.
He began to write choral music, which led him to a job opportunity as a choral editor at Shawnee Press, the company founded by band-leader and choirmaster Fred Waring. After twelve years there, he accepted an editorial position with the music dealer J. W. Pepper and Son, where he worked for twenty-seven years. He continued to write and publish music for school and church choirs.
Steve’s poetry evolved from his music. While at Shawnee Press, he began to publish poems in the local magazine Creeping Bent. His poems have also appeared in Poem, Atlanta Review, Plainsongs, and The Aurorean. This collection is divided into three sections, Discoveries, Flights, and Partings, like the movements of a dance suite or a symphony.
Paperback: 54 pages
Publisher: Kelsay Books (June 16, 2026)