# Hal Sirowitz > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hal_Sirowitz > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hal_Sirowitz.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Sirowitz > Source revision: 1321819138 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American poet (1949–2025)}} '''Harold Sirowitz''' (March 6, 1949 – October 17, 2025) was an American poet who was named the [Poet Laureate](/source/Poet_Laureate) of [Queens](/source/Queens), New York. ==Life and career== Sirowitz was born on March 6, 1949, in Manhattan.{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=Alex |date=November 12, 2025 |title=Hal Sirowitz, Poet Who Mined His Mother's Worry With Wit, Dies at 76 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/nyregion/hal-sirowitz-dead.html |access-date=November 12, 2025 |work=The New York Times}} He earned a degree from [Hofstra](/source/Hofstra) in education.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-hal-sirowitz-newsday-nov-18-2021/170432738/ |title=A Live (and Lively) Poet's Society |first=Dennis |last=Duggan |work=[Newsday](/source/Newsday) |location=New York |date=November 18, 2001 |page=G2 |via=newspapers.com}} He first began to attract attention at the [Nuyorican Poets Cafe](/source/Nuyorican_Poets_Cafe) where he was a frequent competitor in their Friday Night [Poetry Slam](/source/Poetry_Slam). He eventually made the 1993 Nuyorican Poetry Slam team, and competed in the 1993 [National Poetry Slam](/source/National_Poetry_Slam) (held that year in San Francisco) along with his Nuyorican teammates [Maggie Estep](/source/Maggie_Estep), [Tracie Morris](/source/Tracie_Morris), and [Regie Cabico](/source/Regie_Cabico).{{cite book |last1=Aptowicz |first1=Cristin O'Keefe |year=2008 |title=Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam |location=[New York City](/source/New_York_City) |publisher=Soft Skull Press |chapter=Chapter 14: First and Always; Graduates from the NYC Poetry Slam's First Wave |url=https://archive.org/details/wordsinyourfaceg0000apto_l8l6 |url-access=registration| isbn=978-1-933368-82-5 }}{{rp|122}} He would later perform his poetry on stages across the country, and on television programs such as MTV's ''Spoken Word: Unplugged''{{cite web |url=http://www.tv.com/mtv-unplugged/show/3400/episode_guide.html&printable=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626223929/http://www.tv.com/mtv-unplugged/show/3400/episode_guide.html%26printable%3D1 |archive-date=2008-06-26|title=MTV's ''Unplugged'' series Episode Guide {{!}} 52. Spoken Word II |date=June 21, 1994 |website=www.tv.com }} and PBS's ''The United States of Poetry''.{{cite news |title=The Poet Of All Mothers / There's no rhyme but plenty of reason behind Hal Sirowitz' manic musings about mom |first=Karin |last=Halperin |work=[Newsday](/source/Newsday) |date=June 28, 1998 |id={{ProQuest|279114974}} }} He wrote eleven books of poetry, including the volumes ''Mother Said'', ''My Therapist Said'' and ''Father Said''. He was the best-selling translated poet in [Norway](/source/Norway), where ''Mother Said'' has been adapted for the stage and turned into a series of animated cartoons.{{cite news |title=The King of Queens? No, But Poet Laureate Will Do: It's Official; The Borough's New Voice Is Droll, Deadpan and Slightly Obsessed with Mom |last=Shapiro |first=Gary |work=[The Forward](/source/The_Forward) |date=March 30, 2001 |id={{ProQuest|367725346}} }} Sirowitz was a 1994 recipient of an NEA Fellowship in Poetry{{rp|123}}{{Cite web |title=Literature Fellowships |url=https://www.arts.gov/grants/recent-grants/literature-fellowships |access-date=2025-10-21 |website=www.arts.gov |language=en}} and was the [Poet Laureate](/source/Poet_Laureate) of [Queens](/source/Queens).{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/17/nyregion/ah-poetic-injustice-seeking-a-laureate-queens-goes-blank.html |title=Ah, Poetic Injustice! Seeking a Laureate, Queens Goes Blank |first=Robert F. |last=Worth |work=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) |date=March 17, 2004 |access-date=April 15, 2025 }} He worked as a [special education](/source/special_education) teacher in the [New York public school system](/source/New_York_City_Department_of_Education) for 23 years. He was married to the writer Mary Minter Krotzer.{{cite news |title=Queens has no poet and doesn't know it |first=Dennis |last=Duggan |work=[Newsday](/source/Newsday) |location=[Long Island](/source/Long_Island) |date=April 4, 2004 |id={{ProQuest|279769181}} }} On October 17, 2025, Sirowitz died in [Philadelphia](/source/Philadelphia), Pennsylvania, after a long battle with [Parkinson's disease](/source/Parkinson's_disease). He was 76.{{cite web |url=https://obits.goldsteinsfuneral.com/harold-sirowitz |title=Harold "Hal" Sirowitz |website= Goldsteins' Rosenberg's Funeral Directors |date=19 October 2025 |accessdate=20 October 2025 |archive-date=21 October 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251021123839/https://obits.goldsteinsfuneral.com/harold-sirowitz}} ==Bibliography== *''Girlie Pictures'', Long Island City, NY: Low-Tech Press, 1982. *''Bedroom Wall'', New Brunswick, NJ: Iniquity Press/Vendetta Books, 1992. *''Fishnet Stockings'', New York: Appearances, no. 20, 1993. *''No More Birthdays'', Bristolville, OH: The Bacchae Press, 1993. *''Happy Baby'', 1997. Bristolville, OH: The Bacchae Press, 1995. *''Two Second Kiss'', Harvey, LA: Mulberry Press, 1995. *''Mother Said'', New York: Crown, 1996.{{cite news |title=Mother's Don'ts and Don'ts: But She Never Told Poet Son, 'Don't Quote Me' Mother Had Many Don'ts. But Not, 'Don't Quote Me.' |first=Bruce |last=Weber |work=[New York Times](/source/New_York_Times) |date=May 3, 1996 |page=B1 |id={{ProQuest|109612773}} }} *''My Therapist Said'', New York: Crown, 1998.{{cite journal |title=My Therapist Said |last=Brainard |first=Dulcy |journal=[Publishers Weekly](/source/Publishers_Weekly) |volume=245 |issue=4 |date=January 26, 1998 |page=87 |id={{ProQuest|197053274}} }} *''Before, During, & After'', Brooklyn: Soft Skull Press, 2003. *''Father Said'', Brooklyn: Soft Skull Press, 2004.{{cite journal |title= Father Said: Poems |last=Scharf |first=Michael |journal=[Publishers Weekly](/source/Publishers_Weekly) |volume=251 |issue=25 |date=Jun 21, 2004 |page=58 |id={{ProQuest|197044342}} }} *''Stray Cat Blues'', Omaha: The Backwaters Press, 2012. ==References== ==External links== *[http://www.halsirowitz.com/ Official website] *{{IMDb name|1719816}} *[https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/fales/mss_196/ Hal Sirowitz Papers], held by the [Fales Library and Special Collections](/source/Fales_Library_and_Special_Collections) at [New York University](/source/New_York_University) *{{discogs artist|Hal Sirowitz}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Sirowitz, Hal}} Category:1949 births Category:2025 deaths Category:American male poets Category:Jewish American poets Category:Performance art in New York City Category:Place of birth missing Category:20th-century American poets Category:20th-century American male writers Category:21st-century American Jews Category:National Endowment for the Arts Fellows Category:Special educators Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease in Pennsylvania {{US-poet-1940s-stub}} --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hal Sirowitz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Sirowitz) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Sirowitz?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.