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Kennedy’s first collection of poetry,  Nude Descending a Staircase (Doubleday, 1961), won the Lamont Poetry Selection. His awards include a Guggenheim fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, the Bess Hokin Prize for Poetry magazine, and a Los Angeles Times Book prize. Kennedy has taught at the Universities of Michigan, North Carolina (Greensboro), and California (Irvine), as well as Wellesley,Tufts, and Leeds. He is a former editor of The Paris Review. His books of Poetry include: Cross Ties Selected Poems (University of Georgia Press,1985),  Dark Horses: New Poems ( John’s Hopkins University Press 1992), The Lords of Misrule Poems 1992-2001 (John’s Hopkins University Press, 2002), In a Prominent Bar in Secaucus (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007), Peeping Toms Cabin BOA Editions, 2007) and Fits of Concision published by The Grolier Established Poets Series, 2014.

Kennedy has also  published numerous works for children, including more than ten collections of verse and two novels over the past two decades. Recently, Kennedy and his wife Dorothy have collaborated as editors on several textbooks, including Knock at a Star: A Child’s Introduction to Poetry (Little, Brown & Company, 1999).

“These poems speak for themselves. They are brief and they are delectable, and they are sufficient unto themselves.”