Ben Howard

Ben W. Howard (born 1944 in Iowa ), Emeritus Professor of English at Alfred University, is an American poet, essayist, scholar, and critic. He is the author of twelve books, including three collections of essays on Zen practice, six collections of poems, a verse novella, and a critical study of modern Irish writing. From 1973-2000, he served as a regular reviewer for Poetry. Over the past four decades, he has contributed more than 250 poems, essays, and reviews to leading journals in North America and abroad, including Poetry, Shenandoah, Poetry Ireland Review, Agenda, and the Sewanee Review. Until his retirement in 2006, he taught courses in literature and writing and an Honors course in Buddhist meditation at Alfred University. He also taught classical guitar and often performed in faculty recitals. From 1998 to 2022 he led the Falling Leaf Sangha, a Rinzai Zen practice group in Alfred, New York. For the past decade he has also offered guest lectures and conducted meditative retreats at the Olean Meditation Center in Olean, New York. "One Time, One Meeting," his monthly column, explores aspects of Zen practice.