In March 2019, Halfway Down the Stairs published my found poem, “Genesis, American Style,” in their All That Glitters edition of their quarterly magazine. The editors noted that this issue was a way to “explore our never-ending resistible urge to pour ourselves out”…
Writing in Form: The Sestina
In Summer 2012, my poem, a sestina called “The Winter We Lived in the Church & It Snowed Daily & The First Barrel of Crude Oil Traveled Successfully Through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline,” was published in the Security Issue of Blood Orange Review. A sestina is six stanzas of six lines and a final triplet…
Strolling Down Publication Memory Lane…
For years, my website was the place where I listed and linked to my publications along with writing awards and other projects I was working on. I had a few blogs that talked about the art and craft of writing, books I was reading, flowers I was growing, places I traveled…
Book Report: David Pickering’s Jesus Comes to Me as Judy Garland
What joy to be able to praise a great poetry book written by a dear friend! David Pickering’s debut collection, Jesus Comes to Me as Judy Garland, won the 2020 Airlie Prize and was published by Airlie Press in September 2021. I was touched and honored when he asked me to write a blurb for it….
Publication News: “The Great and Marvelous Sugar Baby” Finds a Home
Every now and then, you write a poem that you think will never find its true readers. Who wants to publish a persona meets ekphrastic poem about a now long-gone work of art? “The Great and Marvelous Sugar Baby Has (Not) Spoken” was one of those poems for me. Luckily, the women at Visitant, a new online journal for literary pilgrims, decided to publish it back in June 2016…
From the Finger Lakes: A Memoir Anthology
“With this collection of memoir writing, both prose and poetry, Cayuga Lake Books presents our third anthology to feature creative work by authors who live in the Finger Lakes region of New York or have left without ever forgetting what this part of the country means to them…
Publication News: “In the Kingdom of Perpetual Night”
My poem, “In the Kingdom of Perpetual Night” was published in Scintilla Magazine’s Issue #10, Winter 2016. The poem’s title elides into the first line of its opening stanza…
Memory Lane Chapbook News: Eternity a Coal’s Throw
My chapbook, Eternity a Coal’s Throw, was published by Burning River Press of Cleveland, Ohio in 2012. Chris Bowen, the editor, had a very interesting process for making his chapbooks stand out from the crowd. Each one included an introductory essay that talked about a bit about the “how” and the “why” that led to the writing of that particular group of poems. In my case, this collection was all about the place I grew up, the anthracite coal country of northeastern Pennsylvania…..
From the Finger Lakes: A Poetry Anthology
“The Finger Lakes Region of New York is easy to find on a map. But is there something intangible here, a spirit that can touch the human heart? This anthology of poems from more than 100 authors includes the well established and those just commencing the poetic craft. You will find a wide variety of voices…
Memory Lane Publication News: Great Hunger
Anchor & Plume Press of Baton Rouge, Louisiana published my long poem, Great Hunger, as their first-ever “pocket book” on St. Patrick’s Day 2016. As part of the volume’s launch, I answered a few questions for Anchor & Plume editor, Amanda Mays. Below is an excerpt of our conversation….