He was born March 16, 1973, in Hartford, Connecticut--ethnic background: "Mutt." He has one cat, Sharma. Here are his other answers to the Comprepoetica Survey Form:

Occupation: Inventory Clerk; Yearly Earnings: Ha! Schools and Degrees: BA in English, Western Connecticut State University, 1997; Previous Occupations: Dishwasher, Custodian, Data Entry Clerk, General Office Hack, Proofreader, Bookseller, Shipper-Receiver, Inventory Clerk; Hobbies: Misreadings; Religion: Atheist; Political Affiliation: Marxist.

Keeney says of his life-in-general: "Slowly spiraling out of ... whatever. (The first poem that comes to mind right now is) Drunken Boat." About the current status of the world, and whether one can do anything about it, he says, "I like what Rimbaud wrote, 'The mind of the populace is an abominable itch of idiocy,' and don't imagine I can sum it up better than that." He suggests that the following question be added to the Comprepoetica Survey Form: "With what psychological disorders have you been diagnosed, and how accurate do you feel you fit those categories?"

Keeney was publisher/editor of the poetry zine, Brass City ,(1/96 to 1/97, six issues) and in August 1998 put out the first issue of The End Review. His poems have appeared in Dirigible, gestalten, Mudfish, Ribot (#6), tight and other little magazines.

Among the many contemporary poets important to him are Mark Wallace, Rosmarie Waldrop, Elaine Equi, W. B. Keckler, John Ashbery, Joe Torra and Rae Armantrout. Those of the past he lists as important to him include Ted Berrigan, Joe Ceravolo, Hart Crane, Reverdy, Tu Fu, Rimbaud, Mallarme, Tzara, Dickinson, Blake, Kerouac, Apollinaire, Li Po, Kenneth Patchen, Harry Crosby, Mina Loy, Shakespeare, plus all the other usual suspects, and still others he's not recalling. He puts Mark Wallace at the top of his list of favorite critics.

Of his tastes in poetry, he says, "(They) depend on my moods. But always (al)chemical reactions must go on." His impression of contemporary poetry is that "too much stock has been placed in MFAs." Keeney has read widely in the otherstream, citing the following as worthy of being listed in the Comprepoetica dictionary: Aerial, Arshile, Antenym, Angle, ACM, Chain, apex of the M, Dirigible, Lost and Found Times, gestalten, Misc Proj, Rhizome, LVNG, ugly duckling, Situation, Ribot, Quicksilver, tight, peaky hide, Sulfur, New American Writing, Logodaedalus, Witz, Tool, Chicago Review, Prose Poem, Key Satch(el), Poetics Journal, American Poetry Review, Brooklyn Review, Poetry New York, Lilliput Review, Syntactics, Indefinite Space, Backwoods Broadsides, Abacus, Membrane, Mudfish, Poetry Project Newsletter, Score, O!!Zone, Juxta, Experiodi(cyber)cist, and others he was unable to bring to mind when compiling his list.

For a sample poem, "Lowellville Cemetery: Twilight," by Kenneth Patchen, that represents one kind of poetry Keeney is attracted to, click here.