I’ve got a poem up at Pidgeonholes today, and it’s something like a chemo love poem.

Here’s a quick event update from the last few months…

I had the pleasure of spending last week in Santa Fe at the Glen Workshop. I took Pádraig Ó Tuama’s “Poetry and Preaching” class, in which we read poems and had thoughtful conversations about midrash and more. I got to attend amazing readings and panels, write in the company of friends, attend an opera, practice yoga while the sun rose over the mountains, visit the Ojo Caliente hot springs, eat fantastic food, stand in awe at the Georgia O’Keeffe museum, and wander happily through Meow Wolf. (I also got to visit urgent care thanks to a spider bite!) It was so good to be in the company of some of my favorite poets and creative people.

On June 22, my family kicked off our 3-week road trip by driving up to L.A. so I could do a reading with Zoetic Press at Book Show. I had so much fun reading with Gayle Brandeis, Marie C. Lecrivain, Kevin Wetmore, and company, and I got to see Kolleen Carney Hoepfner and meet her famously adorable baby in person. Thanks again for hosting this, Lise and Kolleen!

In mid-April, I was once again chairing the Poetry Studies & Creative Poetry Area of the Popular Culture Association National Conference, which was held in Washington, D.C. I got to spend my first day with the kind and brilliant poet Sarah Ann Winn, who showed me around her home in Virginia (tulips! book shop! tasty food!) before we ventured over to the conference. Then I got to spend three days immersed in poetry sessions, which was exhausting and exhilarating. I love hearing undergraduates read alongside retired professors. We had a spectacular off-site event this year: a poetry salon at the home of Anne Harding Woodworth, whose windows look out over the city in view of the National Cathedral.

At the end of March, I attended the AWP conference. I love being in the crowd of creative writers, but this year I finally felt like I found my groove: a few panels, a few off-site events, lots of chatting at the book fair and over meals with friends. I had two major commitments at this conference, and they were deeply meaningful to me. First, I hosted a tribute event for Marthe Reed, my beloved dissertation advisor who passed away the previous April. We had such a wonderful time reading work by/for her and celebrating her life together. Second, I co-sponsored One Poet, One Poem on behalf of Whale Road Review, and there I read Marjorie Maddox’s poem in honor of Anya Silver, a dear poet friend whom we’d lost the previous August. In some ways, it felt strange to go to a writing conference for these grief-related purposes, but I was so glad that I had the opportunity to grieve with others and to honor these incredible poets.

Mom Egg Review is one of my very favorite journals, and I’ve been thrilled to have two poems featured with MER in the last few months (even if I’m behind on posting about it here… I do like to stretch out celebrations). 🙂

In January, my poem “Which Way Do You Want to Go?” from my newly completed manuscript 28,065 Nights was featured alongside art by Natalie Ramus in Issue 35 of M.A.M.A. (Mothers Are Making Art), a monthly collaboration between The ProCreate Project, the Museum of Motherhood, and Mom Egg Review. This poem first appeared in Mom Egg Review, vol. 16.

In February, my “Love Poem with Teeth” was published in the MER VOX love folio just in time for Valentine’s Day. (Spoiler alert: this poem reveals the true identity of the tooth fairy.)

I’m grateful to Marjorie Tesser and the rest of the Mom Egg Review staff for their work and for their support of my poems!

My prose poem “Ojo Caliente” was published in the January issue of the American Journal of Nursing! I love that this peer-reviewed nursing journal includes a creative piece in each issue! Nurses are the best.

Thanks to Elizabeth Ann Dark for calling me a star and to Jen Stewart Fueston for taking us to the hot springs.

Two poems from my Bible project were published in the 60th anniversary issue of december in amazing company! This feels like a good publication to end the year. 😊

You should definitely get a copy of this issue and read the other pieces, especially the short story by Marge Piercy.

Over the first week of August, I got to attend the Glen Workshop in Santa Fe. I spent the mornings alongside some of my favorite poets in a workshop that was led by Scott Cairns.

In the afternoons, I attended readings, or I left campus with friends to sit at cafes and write beside each other and indulge in amazing food.

In the evenings, I listened to music and poetry, read poetry to others, joined a sing-along, danced, talked, and laughed a lot. This gathering of writers, artists, and musicians who care about beauty and faith are my people, and it was wonderful to be in their company.

Two of my Bible project poems open the new Summer 2018 issue of Pretty Owl Poetry. I’m thrilled to have “The Book of Coils” and “The Book of Disease” included alongside work by Amy Lawless, Hannah Cohen, Ava C. Cipri, and more.

from “The Book of Coils”

I wrote a love poem that uses my favorite board game, Pandemic, and also mentions vomit. You’re welcome, world. 

Thanks to Connotation Press and Julie Brooks Barbour for publishing it today! This one is extra special to me, and I’m glad it found a good home.