Al Ortolani’s poetry and reviews have appeared in journals such as Rattle, Prairie Schooner, New Letters, The Writer’s Almanac, and the New York Quarterly, and his poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. He has published several collections of poetry, including His Waving Mustard in Surrender (NYQ Books), which was short-listed for Binghamton University's Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award, and Paper Birds Don’t Fly, released in April 2016 by New York Quarterly Books.

Al has served on the Board of Directors of the Writers Place, The Brick Mountain Foundation, The Little Balkans Press, and currently sits on the board of Woodley Press at Washburn University in Topeka. He regularly drank coffee at the White Buffalo Café and Emporium and was once photographed eating the largest baloney sandwich ever served at 7th and Broadway.