Ever since my husband retired from his twenty-year career in the Navy, I’ve been working on a poetry collection that explores this difficult transition in a military marriage. The book, Civilians, is essentially the third and final part of a trilogy that began with Stateside (2010) and was continued with Dots & Dashes (2017). When […]
»MoreWriting Taste: A Book of Small Parts was one of the best moments of my writing life. The book was published Columbia University Press in August 2022 as part of the No Limits series, which “brings together creative thinkers who delight in the pleasure of intellectual hunting, wherever the hunt may take them and whatever […]
»MoreI love Guernica‘s “Cutting Room,” which features pieces–poems, essays–that didn’t make it into writer’s books. So, I’m really happy to be part of the latest issue with a contribution of my own, an essay about the famous logo of Solidarność. This essay didn’t make it into Exhibitions: Essays on Art & Atrocity, and I’m thrilled […]
»MoreI’m coming to the end of working on Civilians, the final poetry collection in my military-spouse trilogy, which started with Stateside and continued with Dots & Dashes. Civilians considers what happens to a military marriage once the active-duty service member retires, as my own husband did several years ago. What happens once the uniform is […]
»MoreI recently finished work on my next book of poem, Civilians, which functions as the final piece of my military spouse trilogy (which include Stateside and Dots & Dashes). Now that the collection is pretty much done, I’m also coming to the tail-end of sending poems out to literary journals. I’m thrilled to have one […]
»MoreBack in October, my husband and I bought the house next door to my parents. It was a move that made a lot of sense, personally, financially. But, like any move, it was stressful and caused a lot of upheaval. I knew, however, that we had made the right decision about four weeks after we […]
»MoreSeveral years ago, I began working on an essay that would become part of my forthcoming third book of nonfiction, Exhibitions: Essays on Art & Atrocity. “Lost Vessels” was about art–specifically an exquisite exhibit I once saw at the Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C–and my cousin’s opioid addiction, which eventually killed him. The essay is […]
»MoreFor many years, I worked on an essay about my love of mid-century design and, specifically, my passion for some of the great chairs that were first produced at the end of WWII. The Eames LCW. Jens Risom’s Lounge Chair. The 1006 Navy Chair from Emeco. These are pieces that were created either to address […]
»MoreI’m delighted to have a new poem up at The Los Angeles Review. “Trench Whistle” is one of my “artifact sonnets,” that is, a sonnet that meditates on an object, exploring its history as well as its materiality. Like my sonnet, “Acme No. 470 Clicker,” this poem examines an artifact of an earlier war in […]
»MoreNot long ago, I finished work on my tenth book of poems, Civilians. With the drafting and revision process done, I now have a few final poems from the manuscript appearing in literary journals. I’m thrilled to have a sonnet from the manuscript, “The Acme No. 470 Clicker,” appear in the current issue of The […]
»MoreFor many months now, I’ve been working on a hybrid memoir about my long-term love affair with Anne Carson’s novel-in-verse, Autobiography of Red. The manuscript, Red Monsters, blends person essay, close reading, pedagogy, and poetry. Divided into three parts, the project explores how Carson’s book has changed me as a reader, as a teacher, and […]
»MoreMy second book of creative nonfiction, Taste: A Book of Small Bites, is out today. This collection was such a pleasure to write. Every part of the process, from drafting the proposal for Columbia University Press to the final stages of revision, were full of joy. It’s a lighthearted book (which occasionally explores dark subjects) […]
»MoreSomething delightful arrived today–my first copies of Taste: Book of Small Bites! I can’t believe this little book is real and here (and now available for preorder). If you’re interested, I hope you’ll consider purchasing a copy here, here, or here.
»MoreAs I’ve mentioned before, my current in-progress manuscript, Civilians, contain many poems that explore family. The book considers what it means for a service member to retire and to finally leave the military, reentering civilian life. The book is essentially a reflection on marriage, particularly those unions that include the titles of sailor and civilian. […]
»MoreFor more than three years, I have been working on a book of hybrid essays that blend research, literary theory, and personal experience. Exhibitions: Essays on Art & Atrocity explores my peripatetic childhood as the daughter of two American Foreign Service Officers. Born in Italy, I grew up in Yugoslavia, Zaire, Poland, Belgium, Austria, and […]
»MoreSo, my third book, Stateside, is now a one-act opera composed by Rachel Whelan! The piece will premiere this Sunday, April 24 at 5 pm CST on YouTube (the pandemic interfered with the possibility of a live performance). It’s hard for me to express how touched I am that this book has been transformed into […]
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