A modernist poet and novelist of the Jazz Age, he is known for works such as Against this Age (1923), Minna and Myself (1918), Crazy Man (1924), and Replenishing Jessica (1925). He was a prominent figure in the Bohemian literary circles of Greenwich Village, New York.
He published his first work in Poetry magazine in 1914. Another of his early pieces was printed in a 1917 anthology alongside the work of future literary luminary, TS Eliot.
He and his third wife were murdered in Manhattan in 1954 by Harold Weinberg, a sociopathic acquaintance.
He was born in Hermanville, Mississippi, and was the son of European immigrants. He was married three times: to Minna Schein (for two decades), Grace Finan (for a decade), and Ruth Fagin (for the final two years of his life).
He co-founded The Chicago Literary Times, a short-lived publication that nevertheless saw contributions from noted authors such as Carl Sandburg and Theodore Dreiser.