Roberson was born and raised in Pittsburgh and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1970,^[1] and later completed graduate work at Goddard College.^[2] He then served as a faculty member in the Department of English at the University of Pittsburgh^[1] and at Rutgers University until 2002.^[3] He married Rhonda Wiles in May 1973 who graduated from Rutgers University Douglas College and Hofstra Law School in New York. They have a daughter in 1976.

Since 2007, he has been a visiting writer and artist in Residence at the Northwestern University.^[4][2] and has also taught at the University of Chicago and Columbia College.

His work appears in the literary magazine Callaloo.^[5][6] Roberson has written eleven books of poetry.

• 2020 Jackson Poetry Prize from Poets & Writers^[7]
• 2017 Academy of American Poets Fellowship
• 2016 PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry^[8][9]
• 2008 Shelley Memorial Award
• 1998 National Poetry Series, for Atmosphere Conditions chosen by Nathaniel Mackey
• Iowa Poetry Prize for Voices Cast Out to Talk Us In
• LA Times Book Award
• Stephen Henderson Critics Award for Achievement in Literature
• Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award
• Lenore Marshall Award finalist, Academy of American Poets’

• Asked What has Changed. Wesleyan University Press. 2022. ISBN 978-0819580108.
• "From: Picking Up the Tune, the Universe and Planets", Electronic Poetry Center
• "VI. Cape Journal: At Sand Pile", Electronic Poetry Center
• Closest Pronunciation: Poems. Northwestern University Press. 31 January 2013. ISBN 978-0-8101-2892-7.
• To See the Earth Before the End of the World. Wesleyan University Press. 2010. ISBN 978-0-8195-6950-9.^[10]
• City Eclogue. Atelos. 2006. ISBN 978-1-891190-23-0.
• Atmosphere conditions. Sun & Moon Press. 2000. ISBN 978-1-55713-392-2.
• Voices cast out to talk us in: poems. University of Iowa Press. 1995. ISBN 978-0-87745-510-3.
• Etai-eken. University of Pittsburgh Press. 1975. ISBN 978-0-8229-5263-3.
• When thy king is a boy: poems. University of Pittsburgh Press. 1970. ISBN 978-0-8229-5214-5.

• Melissa Tuckey, ed. (2018). Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-5315-9.
• Lyn Hejinian; David Lehman, eds. (2004). "Ideas Gray Suits Bowler Hats Baal". The Best American Poetry 2004. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-5757-2.
• Leonard Schwartz; Joseph Donahue; Edward Halsey Foster, eds. (1996). Primary trouble: an anthology of contemporary American poetry. Talisman House. ISBN 978-1-883689-29-2.