Michael Shepler

1942 - 2023

Michael Shepler
August 29, 1942 - July 7, 2023
Poet Michael Shepler passed away peacefully on July 7, 2023, his wife Jackie and brother Patrick at his side. Michael was born in Cincinnati Ohio in 1942, August 29th to Clarence and Marie Shepler. The family moved to Los Angeles, City of Dreams. Growing up and throughout his life, movies, film noir in particular, played an important role in his imagination and his poetry. His knowledge of film, jazz, writers, poetry and poets was encyclopedic. He attended Cal State LA. His teacher, poet Henri Coulette, became his mentor and friend. Michael's poetry was published in Gramercy Review, Columbia Review, People's Weekly World and in many books, notably Poetry of the American West, Knopf, 2002 and Darkroom Elegies, Concerning…Tina Modotti, Smokestack Books, UK 2009. Under the imprint hit & run press, Michael's friend Larry Rafferty, published Michael's poetry books and broadsides. Michael self-published numerous chapbooks. An autobiography of his life in the '60's appears in The Pentameron, Workwoman's Press, 2008. One of Michael's plays, Cockroach Blues, was performed in LA in 1980 by the Company Theater. Michael became the poetry and cultural affairs editor for Political Affairs magazine and he lectured on Film and Jazz at the Jazz School in Berkeley. His love, intelligence, humor, wit and compassion will be sorely missed by those who knew him. To read Michael's poetry visit https://djbartel.com/michael-shepler/