Ochs, Otto Osip

About the poet: Otto Osip Ochs was born at the end of WWII. In the cultural turmoil of war-torn Germany, during the American Occupation, he encountered local German, hushed Russian from his parents’ private conversations, and English slang from the American soldiers. He and his family emigrated to California in the 1950’s, where he experienced the sounds and rhythms of Spanish and Afro-American English. He discovered a passion for language that led to writing poetry. Ochs has been published in 22 publications, ranging from the San Miguel Weekly to Image: A Journal of the Arts and Religion. He earned an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Louisiana at Monroe, and currently teaches high school English in northeast Louisiana.