The Story

Jef Harris is an avid poet who began writing lyric poetry in 1960s Chicago. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he gave impromptu readings wherever he went, sometimes backing himself up on acoustic guitar.

His poetry has been published by The World of Poetry Press, The New York Poetry Foundation Anthology, The American Poetry Anthology,  the Haiku anthology In this House: If Wall Could Talk, and other publications in Germany and America. His debut collection First Poem of Words published in 2012. His 121 Seven-Word Poems published in 2023.

In the Army, Jef became a prolific technical writer, which resulted in several technical reports and manuals. After military retirement, his technical and business writing skills were in great demand, and he spent nine years devoting his talent to those genres. 

However, in 2003, he pledged a return to poetic expression. To him, “poetry not only speaks from the soul but also from the spirit of a living God dwelling inside, who sometimes permits the soul to speak.”