POEM & INTERVIEW*
The Steps
(feature includes audio stream of my poem recitation)
*NOTE: When viewing this publication on a mobile device, please rotate to landscape mode to preserve the poem's formatting.
My autobiographical poem "The Steps"has been published—along with with a thoughtful Q&A and audio of me reading the poem—by the phenomenal poetry education & advocacy org, Brooklyn Poets. It's an honor to have my work featured as part of this longstanding series, alongside so many sensational writers. My gratitude extends at once to the editors of Poet of the Week and the entire staff at Brooklyn Poets, as this publication coincides with the close to an unforgettable (six-month!) season of teaching my weekly drop-in class as part of BKP's incredible programming. It's been deeply inspiring to serve the org's vital community as a faculty member—especially during the inaugural year of their brick-and-mortar space. Which is stunning. But don't take my virtual word for it, I urge to you to visit—come for the bookshop, stay for the fellowship and fun! #GoYO!
POEM
What a thrill it is to have this biting "alt-tribute" poem selected for the gorgeous 15th-anniversary edition of The Red Wheelbarrow literary journal, which is published annually out of William Carlos Williams' hometown of Rutherford, NJ. I'd like to think Williams, both an admirer of Pound's core Imagism tenets and a harsh critic of his personal ethics (or...lack thereof) might approve.
TWO POEMS
and
These works were published as companion poems in the spring 2022 print issue of Shift: A Journal of Literary Oddities. I'm grateful and delighted that this beautiful journal shall ever be the hand-held home to these deeply personal poems, written to honor my late father and mother, respectively.
POEM (print & video)
PHOTOBOOK REMEDIATION
by Walt Whitman
This photobook is an inspired remediation of the classic Walt Whitman poem "Song Of The Open Road," which first appeared in the 1865 edition of "Leaves of Grass." I composed this eBook in June of 2011 while pursuing my B.A. in Creative Writing at Florida State University, as the final project to a fantastic course entitled "Rhetoric and Composition in the Digital Age."
HUMOR ESSAY
I composed this "critical" essay in 2012 while pursuing my B.A. in Creative Writing from Florida State University. The essay won first place in the nonfiction category of The Kudzu Review's annual writing contest, and was published in their Spring 2013 issue.
EPISTOLARY ESSAY
Again Like April: A Love Letter for the Mystically Disinclined
This epistolary essay first took shape in 2013 as an "About" page to a weekly blog I thought I might keep to chronicle the unexpected—and unimaginably sublime—year I lived in writerly retreat on an apple orchard in Eastern Iowa. As it turns out, that is precisely the wow-fired circumstance in which the sky is the limit when it comes to artistic and personal growth, so... #IRL4eva #clouds #beherewow Today, almost a decade later, I've taken some time to revisit the piece and have decided to say what the hay barrel and self-publish it here. At its core, the work is a love letter-as-tribute to my fifth-grade teacher Miss Peters, who I'll forever cherish as the noble, silent partner to all of my wordsmithing pursuits.
MY FIRST* POEM
*Okay, I suppose technically it is one of the first poems I wrote. Composed at age ten, I propose it holds up! NOTE: Juuuuust to be clear, my backyard was a forest! I had a Spirograph and a Snoopy Snow Cone Machine! The complete hardcover Nancy Drew Mystery Series! Purple bedroom walls with clouds and a giant rainbow painted on them—by my dad! Actual human friends! I do not recall looking at birds.
CRITICAL ESSAY
The Poetics of Trust: An Examination of the Nature and Significance of Trust in a Poem's Speaker
This essay was composed as the critical component to my MFA thesis with New England College. It's a bit on the longer side of long, but I believe deeply in the central idea that fuels this work, and think you just might too, so... Come-on-a my fiery essay house!
TRIBUTE POETRY RECITATION (voice/bass duo)
The Art of Disappearing by Naomi Shihab Nye
Click image for full text.
POEM
The Daily Palette was an outstanding online journal published by the University of Iowa School of Art and Art History from 2006-2018. The mission of the journal was to heighten awareness of and appreciation for the visual arts and writing by recognizing the works of Iowa-identified artists. In 2013, thanks to the grace of two remarkable heartlanders who were longtime patrons of my music, I had the privilege of calling Iowa home for a year when they invited me to live in private writing residence on their small farmstead, just east of Iowa City. This publication was a deep honor as the written works for the journal were selected by members of the Iowa Review editorial staff.
VISUAL ESSAY
In Art We Trust: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Paradox
This eBook is a visual essay I composed while pursuing my B.A. in Creative Writing from Florida State University, for a powerful course entitled "Literature and Culture of The Great Depression."
PERSONAL ESSAY
In 2016, I successfully presented this essay to the admissions committee of the Master of Arts in Teaching Literature Program at Bard College. Sadly, after attending my first semester in the program, I had to withdraw due to complications that emerged from a personal loss.
POETRY RECITATIONS
"Walt Whitman Practices Holding Up a New York Deli"
&
"Sammichele di Bari"
NOTE:
Since recording these clips, both poems have evolved for forthcoming publication. These videos were originally created and shared as social media posts during the 2020 pandemic lockdown.
