Interview with Glenda Bailey-Mershon

I usually enjoy interviews, but Glenda Bailey-Mershon took interviewing to another level with her incredibly thoughtful questions and generous affirmation of my poems. I think I’ll listen to this again some time when I need a morale boost!

First Friday and WNP

I’ve been sleep deprived and scrambling to finish course prep after what felt like the shortest winter break ever, but somehow I still got to be involved in two poetry readings within the past week, and those were life giving.

The First Friday reading at San Diego Writers, Ink last week was delightful! What a joy to see some faces I didn’t expect to see and to read from How to Play alongside Jane Muschenetz, who read from her forthcoming chapbook and ended with having everyone raise some sparkling cider, and pinch-hitting poet Jill Hall, who stepped in at the last minute to fill in for our sick scheduled reader. Thanks to Tania Pryputniewicz for organizing such a wonderful event and to Kristen Fogle for hosting! (And thanks to Jenn Givhan and Ann Tweedy for sending photos of me!)

And tonight I was part of a virtual event: Wednesday Night Poetry featured Let Me Say This: A Dolly Parton Poetry Anthology, and I was one of the readers representing the anthology. The other featured poems were incredible. I can’t wait to hold a copy of this book in my hands! Thanks to host Kai Coggin for featuring us!

And Yet (or I love poets!)

DIESEL bookstore in Del Mar invited me to host a conversation with Kate Baer last night. Kate was delightful, and it was fun to talk with her and celebrate her new book, And Yet.

I also loved getting ramen with my dear friend (and awesome poet) Jane Muschenetz after the event. I love poets!

 

Hereverent Cover Reveal!

Behold the cover of my forthcoming book!

I’m so thrilled that I got to use Fragments from Reims Cathedral as the cover image. I gasped when I saw it at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and I immediately felt a connection between this piece and my poems.

I’m so grateful that I got to have input on other elements of the cover design too. Thank you to Sarah Reck and Fox Henry Frazier! Working with Agape Editions is a delight.

“Matter and Antimatter” in HAD

To be honest, I was just thrilled to catch HAD’s submission period for once. I usually miss them since they open and close so quickly. I came back to my office after a Friday morning class, opened my laptop, and saw the call. The theme: Endings. Well, that’s my specialty these days (years) I suppose. I raced to send some poems before they reached the cap. I was so surprised to get a message from Mitch Nobis later that day saying that he loved “Matter and Antimatter.” It’s a heavy one, so I’m extra grateful for the love. I wrote it in response to a news article I read last year.

Verse Daily & Moon Prize & Pushcart (Oh my!)

I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed by the good poetry news I’ve received lately, and I’m behind on sharing it here…

At the end of September, my poem “One Way to Use a Deck of Cards” from How to Play was featured on Verse Daily!

Last month, two of my poems were published in Writing in a Woman’s Voice: “After an Older Man from Church Drunk-Texts to Tell Me I Looked Good Topless in His Dream Last Night” and “What’s Something You Love That Can’t Love You Back?”

Also in October, two of my poems were published in Pirene’s Fountain: “This Poem Is about Dinosaurs” and “Choosing a Moon.” This whole issue is fantastic, and you can purchase a copy at this link.

This month, I’ve gotten some happy award news! “After an Older Man from Church…” received the Moon Prize from Writing in a Woman’s Voice on November 9, and “This Poem Is about Dinosaurs” was just nominated for a Pushcart Prize this week! I’m so grateful to these editors who’ve published and affirmed my work and to the folks who encourage me and read my poems.

Simultánea, Play Forever: A Celebratory Reading!

On Oct. 1, Margarita Pintado, Emma McCoy, and I had a wonderful time celebrating our new poetry collections with a virtual reading for a lovely audience that included folks from San Diego to Nairobi!

If you’d like to catch the recording of our reading, you can find it now on YouTube.

If you’d like to get copies of our collections, here are the links to purchase them:

Emma McCoy’s “In Case I Live Forever”
Margarita Pintado’s “Simultánea, La Marea”
Katie Manning’s “How to Play”

Thanks for supporting poets and poetry!