Writer, Explorer, Perpetual Student
My poem “Make America Literal Again” is up today at the Columbia Journal. I wrote it in a huff a few months ago after reading news of a 15 year-old girl who was allegedly groped and definitely pepper-sprayed while protesting at a Trump rally in Wisconsin.
It may go without saying that this election cycle is heartbreaking and disturbing to me for myriad reasons. I hope that, as in times past, poetry can act as a vehicle for social change.
My poem “Porcupine Denies His Vulnerabilities” went up at Whale Road Review today! It’s one of my favorite poems of mine. I can also tell you that, having gotten to read the proof yesterday, the whole issue is gorgeous. Give ‘er a look!
My essay “Snowstorms and Trigger Warnings” was recently nominated for a Best of the Net award by cahoodaloodaling. This nomination really means a lot to me; the essay addresses a topic that’s very personal to me, and which has recently become germane again with the University of Chicago’s recent statement to its incoming freshmen that it does not support trigger warnings or “safe spaces.”
If you’d like to read the essay, it can be found in cahoodaloodaling’s “Trigger Warning” issue on page 6. Download the free pdf of the issue by clicking here. TW: the essay contains content potentially triggering to survivors of sexual assault.
cahoodaloodaling has always been an absolute joy to work with, and consistently supportive of my work. I highly recommend sending them your writer things, and reading their written things, as often as practicable.
I’m doing two readings this Wednesday, April 27 in South Bend. The first is a reading for Analecta, the IU South Bend student literary journal. I have 3 poems and an art piece in this year’s journal. That reading starts at 5 pm in the IUSB library atrium; I’ll be reading my pieces from the journal, and I’ll start at around 6:20.
After that, I’m headed to The Well, a not-for-profit coffeehouse in South Bend’s River Park neighborhood (just east down Mishawaka Avenue from IUSB) for an open mic that starts at 7:30. I’ll be reading at 8:00 or so and will be reading some new work that I’m really excited about!
Both readings are free and open to the public — that’s you!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
There’s an open mic tomorrow night (7-9 pm) at The Electric Brew coffeehouse in Elkhart, Indiana, and I’ll be reading a few pieces. Come read with me!
Also, just a reminder that I’ll be reading Saturday night at the Blotterature issue launch party in Highland, Indiana.
Here’s a poem for you:
My poems “Self-Portrait as Infinite and Infinitesimal” and “Why I Won’t Yet Say I Love You” appear in the forthcoming issue of Blotterature, and they’re having a release party on March 19 at 6:00 pm (Central time) in Highland, Indiana. And I get to read! Here are the details – hope to see you there!
The second issue of Pittsburgh Poetry Review dropped today (that’s fancy official publishing language. Or I’m confusing publishing with childbearing), and my poem “The Perpetual Artist Lays Down Her Tools” is between its pretty covers.
It is chock full of poems, including several by artists I know and admire like Donna Vorreyer, Darren C. Demaree, Sally Rosen Kindred, and Ariana D. Den Bleyker. Pick up a copy or a 2016 subscription today!
I’m honored and humbled to say that I was invited to guest edit for the December issue of Stirring: A Literary Collection, which went live yesterday. It was a great experience, and I got to read a wide variety of really interesting work. The team over at Stirring is an absolute pleasure to work with, and I’ve always admired their journal. I think this issue turned out to be pretty lovely, so I hope you’ll give it a read!
The issue features poetry by Benjamin Balthaser, Nancy Bevilaqua, Lanette Cadle, Maggie Smith, Donna Vorreyer, and Lauren Yates, fiction by William Bradley, and nonfiction by Liz Prato.
I happened upon the poems “Accidental” and “Keep” by Jocelyn Sears in BOAAT today. They’re the sort of poems that, on first read, you just tumble through them, pulled by the gravity of the story, imagery, and language, and find yourself at the bottom of them breathless, covered in leaves, and eager for another ride down.
From “Accidental”:
Read her BOAAT poems here, and find some of her other work here.
