Robert C. Ford, aka Wall $treet Poet, is a poet, spoken word artist and host of Sky Vault, an intimate concert venue in New York City. He frequently collaborates with Composers Concordance, a contemporary music organization, and other world class performers, for both recorded and live music featuring his words self-narrated or brought to life by accomplished jazz and opera singers.

He has released 2 albums of his poetry set to music, The Music Between Us (2021) and Footprints of Steel (2024), in collaboration with composers Charles Coleman (Paavo Järvi, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Kristjan Järvi, London Symphony Orchestra), Mark Kostabi (Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion, Ramones Adios Amigos, Ornette Coleman), Carli Muñoz (Beach Boys, Eddie Gómez), Gene Pritsker (Matrix Resurrections, Joe Zawinul) and Jay Rodriguez Sierra (Groove Collective, Miles Davis).

Robert has performed with accomplished musicans including Gerry Brown (drums--Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie), John Clark (horn--Gil Evans), Jane Getter (guitar--SNL Band), Adam Holzman (keyboards--Miles Davis, Steven Wilson), Jason Kao Hwang (violin), Mark Kostabi (piano), Carli Muñoz (piano), Paul Nowinski (double bass--Les Paul, Keith Richards, Sting), Gene Pritsker (guitar), Harvie S (bass), Rob Schwimmer (theremin--Wayne Shorter, Paul Simon, Bette Midler, Esperanza Spalding), Jay Rodriguez Sierra (saxophone), Dave Soldier (violin--Bo Diddley, John Cale) and David Taylor (bass trombone--Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones).

He has performed at renown NYC venues such as Birdland Jazz Club, The Bitter End, Chelsea Table + Stage, DROM, Greenwich House, Joe's Pub, Nublu, Pangea, Pianos, Le Poisson Rouge, Queens New Music Festival and Theatre 80 as well as Howland Cultural Center (Beacon, NY), Jazz Club ZWE (Vienna, Austria) and NWEAMO Festival (San Diego State University). In September 2022, he was one of four poets featured at the storied Players Theatre (NYC) with Grammy-award-winning artist Suzanne Vega as part of The [Greenwich] Village Trip Festival.

Robert’s recordings have received airplay on jazz and eclectic radio stations including WFMU 91.1 FM (Jersey City, NJ), WPRB 103.3 FM (Princeton, NJ), WRUU 107.5 FM (Savannah, GA) and WMSE 91.7 FM (Milwaukee, WI).

He is a member of Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) with 25+ songwriter credits. 

Robert's work has appeared in several publications, including Maintenant, the highly acclaimed annual journal of contemporary Dada writing and art, published by Three Rooms Press.

He has had his poetry featured, as well as acted, in several short films by the Mexican director Octavio Maya Rocha and is recognized by Internet Movie Database (IMDb) with 5+ credits.

Robert was born in Doylestown, PA and graduated from Lehigh University. He also has a successful career in financial software.