I’m a poet, prose writer, teacher of writing and a musician (vocals and didgeridoo).

I was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana but have lived in the Boston area since 1975.

After eighteen years, I retired in the spring of 2015 from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the state agency that funds arts and culture, and now spend my time writing, teaching writing, and making music.

I’ve written five books of poetry: "Picnic on the Moon," "All Sins Forgiven: Poems for my Parents," “Memento Mori,” “Purgatory Road, and “Charles Coe: New and Selected Works,” all published by Leapfrog Press. I’ve also written "Spin Cycles," a novella published by Gemma Media. "Peach Pie," a short film by filmmaker Roberto Mighty based on my poem "Fortress," has been shown in film festivals nationwide. “Charles Coe: Man of Letters,” also created by Roberto Mighty, was named “Best Short Documentary” at the Roxbury Film Festival.

I’ve received a fellowship in poetry from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and was selected by the Associates of the Boston Public Library as a “Boston Literary Light in 2014” and spent 2017 as an Artist-in-Residence for the city of Boston, creating a project that collected oral histories of people who live and work in Boston’s Mission Hill neighborhood.

Teaching poetry and prose is a special interest. I teach in a wide variety of settings, including grade schools, high schools, colleges, writing conferences and workshops. I’ve served as poet-in-residence at Wheaton College and at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York and have taught in Dingle, Ireland for the Bay Path University MFA Abroad program. I’m also an adjunct professor of English at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island, teaching poetry and non fiction in the low-residency MFA program.