Publications & Achievements
“Daughter Wild” featured in Young Ravens Literary Review!
Hi all! I'm happy to announce my poem, "Daughter Wild," was featured in Issue 10 of Young Ravens Literary Review, which is live as of today! You can read the issue here, and you'll find my poem on page 22! I also want to give a nod to Wolverine Farm Letterpress and...
New Poem Tonight: “An Accord”
AN ACCORD In the early light, their see-through dress wings show against my shirt, their bodies muted yellow, & I do not mind if they might harm me.The mutual understanding here is simple: let me live. The smallnon-exchange of a sting for the smack of a hand. The...
My Poem, “Bad Omens,” Was a Winner in the Vocal Poets’ 2019 Contest!
Hi everyone and Happy Tuesday! I hope you're having a wonderful week. For today, I have a fun announcement! Vocal Poets announced their 2019 "Poetry-in-Motion" contest back at the end of March, in honor of National Poetry Month. My poem, "Bad Omens," was one entry of...
Yours Truly is Going To Be a Judge!
Hey everyone! A fun announcement for today: I'm going to be one of three judges in the Speculative Fiction category for INSPY's 2019 Book Awards. (above via GIPHY) The Longlist of titles has already been released for each category (link below), and the Shortlist will...
New Poem, New Project!
Happy Tuesday, friends! I hope you enjoyed your weekend. Last night, around 3:30 in the morning, I woke up and laid in bed, thinking about a poetry chapbook I started months ago and hoped to finish soon for those looming contest deadlines. While thinking about what I...
Today: Three Tiny Poems
BAR TALK You remind me of a father figure---not my real father who I leave absent from my poems. Maybe for him, there are too few words, or maybe I prefer him like a ghost: imprinted on walls. More words I can leave scattered on his grave. WINTER BIRTHDAY To...
July 22: This Week’s Publishing Round-Up
Hi friends! Happy (very early) Sunday! I hope you enjoyed your week, are able to rest this Sunday, and are looking forward to the start of the new week. This week was sort of a game-changer for me. I've written on here before, and discussed with some of you...
“Sleepwalker” & The Inspiration Behind It
Happy Thursday, everyone! I'm arriving a tad late to the party again today, but I hope you each had a wonderful day, and I appreciate, again, you joining me in my writing journey. I've been doing things a little differently this week, writing every day, with a...
Poem of the Day & Reading Posts
Poem of the Day: Mary Oliver
Happy Monday! And Welcome Back to my Poem of the Day Series. To start us off, here is a lovely one by Mary Oliver, “How I Go to the Woods.” Enjoy!
In Honor of Linda Gregg: One Poem (For Now)
Today I heard of the passing of Linda Gregg, a poet I unfortunately did not know. To honor her, as I honor any poet who has died, I read her work for the first time. It’s heart-wrenching. This is my take on my first experience with Linda Gregg, and a poem of hers I hope will never let me go.
In Honor of Marni Ludwig: Five Poems
In honor of the excellent poet, Marni Ludwig, here are five poems: Four of hers and one of mine. All my love today to Marni, her family, and her friends.
Reading Shaindel Beers
Select, favorite poems from Shaindel Beers’ incredible collection, SECURE YOUR OWN MASK, from White Pine Press (2018) and winner of the White Pine Press Poetry Prize.
Reading David Dodd Lee
Happy Sunday, all! As fellow readers, book lovers, and writers, I know you have authors and books in your back pocket that you find yourself returning to from time to time. Maybe it’s an annual thing, maybe it’s when you’re having a rough time, or are in a creative...
Reading Stephen King & Writing Horror Shovels
Hi friends! Happy Thursday. I hope you had a really wonderful holiday mid-week and are finding yourselves back in the full swing of things. The last few days, since celebrating my birthday, my anniversary, and the 4th of July, I've been doing a lot of reading...
A Quiet Return: Spending Time in the Horror Genre
Hi friends! It’s been a really long time since I posted or shared work with you, and it bothers me. I’ve still been reading and writing from my quiet little corner, but I’ve minimally shared, and that isn’t who I am as a writer: not to draw attention to my own...
Poem of the Day: Ada Limón
Help me turn my mind off. Help me be more than a song. The stress like a crow's open flame. Help me to not give up on forgiveness. The work has become too wild here. Help me. Help me--- (Days like today, poetry reminds me to live.) INSTRUCTIONS ON NOT...
Book Reviews & Author Interviews
We Could Do Better, You and I: Ecology, Design and Poetry: Reading Betsy Andrews’ The Bottom
Click here to view my interview with Betsy Andrews. When I first began reading Betsy Andrews’ book-length poem, The Bottom, I was reminded of an incident that occurred nearly two years ago now. In October of 2012, an article appeared on Slate.com regarding a...
Interrobang: An Interview with Jessica Piazza
Click here to view my review of Interrobang. Jessica Piazza's first full-length collection, Interrobang, was published by Red Hen Press in September 2013 and was the recipient of the AROHO 2011 To the Lighthouse Poetry Prize and the 2013 Balcones Poetry Prize....
Transforming Her Power, Her Beauty, Her Image: Reading Rebecca Hains’ The Princess Problem
It’s September, and in a matter of weeks, my first daughter will be born. In a rush of summer cleaning and nesting, reading parenting books and planning-planning-planning, I have also found myself searching for books to begin my daughter’s library, as well as...
The Surrealist and Bodily Nature of Grief: Reading Kristin Bair O’Keeffe’s The Art of Floating
Even when you read regularly, it takes time to find something truly great; but every once in a while, there will be a book, a poem, a story, that truly turns you on your heel, holds you in place, and keeps you loving, recommending and discussing that piece for...
Poetic Advice from a Mother to a Mother-to-Be: Reading Molly Sutton Kiefer’s Nestuary
The past thirty-five weeks have not been easy. The actual progression of pregnancy, and the preparations needed for the child once she is born, should be viewed (in my opinion, at least) as two distinct acts that happen to be occurring at the same time. First,...
The Phobia, the Philia, and the Altered Persona: Reading Jessica Piazza’s Interrobang
Click here to view my follow-up interview with Jessica Piazza! Jessica Piazza’s debut full-length poetry collection, Interrobang, is all at once lovely, inquisitive and complex. I found myself startled by the constant alteration of the persona; the interjection...
“The Snapping Open of a Valve / A Bird’s Egg”: Reading Kerrin McCadden’s Landscape with Plywood Silhouettes
No matter how long I’ve been reading and writing professionally, it still amazes me how much a little time away can contribute to my appreciation of a larger work. During my first year as the Layout and Design Editor at New Issues Poetry and Prose, I had the...
A Unique Design of Women and Culture: Reading Desiree Zamorano’s The Amado Women
After reading Désirée Zamorano’s The Amado Women, many readers have claimed to have found a new story with women who are more properly, culturally portrayed, an interesting story which offers new commentary on the larger themes of love and loss, family and...
Past Literary Events
Jim Daniels at IU South Bend
Tonight, Jim Daniels appeared at the IU South Bend English Department Student Writing Awards and performed a reading. Unfortunately for me, I was unable to attend the reading. Call it an example of how a writer must lead a double-life, split between the artistic edge...
Carrie Oeding: Reading at 7pm at IU South Bend
Those Women Are Laughing Sorry Susanna, we’ve already worn the red dress tight, yes, without a slip, once with the zipper broken, to a wedding and to our birthday, where, yes, we ate the cake with our hands. We ate the dress. We wore it as if we had a secret, over and...
Remembering Art Beat 2010
I'm planning on closing down my other blog, The Ink Traveler, so I can focus on this one and implement some of the more important focal points, such as reviewing and keeping to the plan of writing daily. And then I found this one post on that other blog, and I...