My poem “Dear Carol,” was published in the new issue of Mom Egg Review, and I’m so excited to be part of the issue’s virtual launch reading on June 2.
You can register for the June 2 free virtual launch reading at this link.
(The second launch reading on June 5 will also be excellent.)
You can also purchase a print edition or PDF edition of the new issue, and you should. This one is especially fantastic!
I had such a fun time chatting about poetry and reading some poems with Michael Klam at the San Diego Public Library for this Conversations with Poets video series.
I’ve really enjoyed watching the other videos in the series too. Thanks also to the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and the San Diego Poetry Annual for this great collaborative project.
I’m spinning too many plates right now. Some plates that should be spinning are actually still packed in the box, but I’m limited, and between the ongoing pandemic and the violence in Ukraine, it’s hard to continue on as usual. Even so, here are some poetry highlights from the past month…
In early March, I got to be a virtual featured poet for Wednesday Night Poetry, the longest running weekly open mic in the country, and it was a joy to share some of the poems for my spouse from How to Play.
Also in March, I received my contributor’s copy of Dear Vaccine, the print anthology created from the global poetry project of the same name. It’s fun to see work by friends in here with me, and I was excited that Naomi Shihab Nye was one of the editors.
At the end of March, I got to release the new spring issue of my journal, Whale Road Review, and it’s amazing. Even when the rest of life is chaotic, I love doing this editing and publishing work.
Yesterday, John Compton hosted me on the jojo show, and it was so fun to talk with him about How to Play, all things poetry, and whatever else we stumbled upon.
To anyone reading this, I hope you’re safe and well.
The end of January found me in some amazing company! I got to participate in two release readings for A Harp in the Stars: An Anthology of Lyric Essays (U of Nebraska Press, 2021). I’m still pinching myself to make sure I’m not dreaming about having a piece included in this gorgeous book!
On Saturday, January 29, The Writers Place in Kansas City hosted a reading on Zoom with anthology editor Randon Billings Noble and contributors Dorothy Bendel, Heidi Czerwiec, and me. Lyric essay as labyrinth? Lyric essay as body wash instructions? I loved hearing these essays aloud and sharing my “Nevermore” in such company. The sponsor was also special to me: I helped connect us to TWP, and this organization gave me a scholarship when I was an MA student at UMKC. I’m honored to be a member now.
On Monday, January 31, San Diego Writers, Ink sponsored our reading, and my former student Madi Bucci, who is now their administrative assistant, was our Zoom host! This time I got to read with Randon Billings Noble, Laurie Easter, LaTanya McQueen, and Maya Sonenberg, and I was once again stunned by my fellow contributors. Have you ever seen a lyric essay take the form of a word search (and then have it gut you with its content)? Well, you can if you read this anthology, and you definitely should.
Thanks to Ruben Quesada for including me in this stellar line up of poets last night! What a joy to read alongside these rockstars, and Jennifer Kwon Dobbs was such a warm and lovely host. I’m still glowing.
The end of May has found me busy preparing for things that shouldn’t overlap. I always release the summer issue of Whale Road Review during the first week of June, but my university delayed our spring semester’s start, so the first week of June is also our last week of classes. On top of that, the Popular Culture Association national conference (for which I run the Poetry Studies & Creative Poetry area) also moved this year from Boston during Easter week to a virtual platform during the first week of June. It’s absurd that these major roles I play are all colliding this coming week, but I’m as ready to rock as I can be.
Before I jump into this absurd week, here’s a look back at some lovely things from May that I didn’t get a chance to share here yet:
The Other Journal was especially good to me, re-publishing my poem “The Book of Fists” in their newest print issue and also publishing this beautiful review that Tom C. Hunley wrote about my latest chapbook, 28,065 Nights.
The Canopy Review published two of my poems in their second issue, and they’ve featured “The Book of Ear” on their website. (You can find that poem and “The Book of Ash” in the print issue.)
The “Guilty Pleasures” Crystal Field Scholarship Reading was held via Zoom on May 21, and I was honored to read a brand new poem in the company of some Kansas City poetry stars. I received the Crystal Field Scholarship 15 years ago during my time at UMKC, so it’s a special joy to thank the writers who keep this scholarship funded and to give back now.
Finally, I received the contributor copies of How to Write a Form Poem, which includes my ghazal “Time Falling” and my found poem “The Book of Class.” I’m so grateful to Tania Runyan for including my work and feel overwhelmed to have my poems in such stunning company.
Now to let these lovely things fuel me through the wild week ahead!
Join us online tonight at 5 p.m. Pacific for the release of How to Write a Form Poem by Tania Runyan! I’m looking forward to celebrating and reading alongside so many wonderful poets.
You can register at this link.
Update: If you didn’t make it to the reading, you can now catch the video here! It was such a wonderful event..
The Curator published my poem “The Domino Effect” earlier this month, and I’m honored to be included in this beautiful digital magazine.
I’m also excited to join with more contributors on April 29 at 5:30 Pacific for a virtual reading in celebration of National Poetry Month! You can register for the reading here.
I’m so thrilled to be a featured reader this Friday evening at The Writers Place in KC (via Zoom) alongside Kevin Prufer and Wayne Miller. You can register here and join us at 7 p.m. Central (5 p.m. Pacific).
Last night, many of us gathered for a YouTube watch party for the virtual premiere of Tasty Other: A Dramatic Song Cycle. What a gift to have Victor Labenske compose this song cycle from nine of my poems! Elda McGinty Peralta and Judith Spaite Labenske brought so much humor, skill, beauty, and brilliance to the vocals, and Victor’s playing and back-up vocals were gorgeous too. The YouTube video will remain available to view; it includes the audio track and the sheet music, which is also available for purchase here.
When I wrote poems based on anxiety dreams during my pregnancy ten years ago, I couldn’t have imagined that some of them would become a song cycle, but last night I got to watch and listen with my nine-year-old son eagerly watching and listening with me, and that was such a joy.
My book Tasty Other won the Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award in 2016 and is available for purchase from the publisher or directly from me. Visit this page for more details.