Steve was born in Brooklyn. He earned his BA from Brooklyn College, his MA from San Francisco State College, and his MFA from Warren Wilson College. . In the 1980s he moved to San Diego, where he worked at Southwestern College. In addition to authoring several books of his own poetry, he edited a poetry anthology, The Maverick Poets; wrote several works on the subject of writing poetry, including the highly praised In the Palm Of Your Hand: The Poet’s Portable Workshop. He was distinguished by his many awards for poetry, some of which include the National Endowment Fellowship in Poetry, two Pushcart Prizes, the Atlanta Review Poetry Prize, the Ouroboros Book Award, the 2006 Tampa Review Poetry Prize, and the San Diego Theodore Geisel Award. His collection of poems, The Dumbbell Nebula, was a San Francisco Chronicle’s Notable Book of the Year, and his books of poems, Gods of Rapture and The First Noble Truth, attracted rapt attention and praise from reviewers.