It’s always lovely to receive an acceptance from a journal or literary review. But, sometimes an acceptances comes as an extra good piece of news, arriving at just the moment when we need a little bit of encouragement. I really admire The Cincinnati Review; it’s a beautiful journal that consistently publishes thoughtful, engaging, rigorous work. […]
»MoreYesterday morning, I woke up to the very surprising news that one of my poems was the “poem of the day” over at the Poetry Foundation website. I wrote “Pledge” what feels like a million years ago, back in mid-March, right at the start of staying at home, when the term “social distancing” still felt […]
»MoreA while back, I was writing these very strange, lyric poems about different moments in the Biblical story know as the Akedah (i.e. the binding of Isaac by his father, Abraham). I’ve always hated this narrative. It makes me angry and gets at all of my various discomforts with religious piety and obedience. One of […]
»MoreIn the middle of so much darkness, it is really nice to have a small piece of good news. A couple of months ago, I received an email telling me that my poem, “The Long Deployment,” would be featured on an upcoming episode of The Slowdown, a syndicated podcast by Tracy K. Smith. I’ve had […]
»MoreThis summer, I was absolutely thrilled when I received an acceptance from The Colorado Review, a journal to which I’ve been submitting for what felt like decades. I wrote “Portrait on metal with Patterned Scarf and Streak Light,” after sitting for a tintype portrait in Dallas. The experience was such an interesting and disorienting one […]
»MoreI’ve always loved Gulf Coast, which is published by the creative writing program at the University of Houston. For years, it was one of my “goal” publications, a journal I dreamed of being in. After all, Gulf Coast is not only a beautifully produced journal, but it also has a tremendous track record for publishing […]
»MoreAlthough I am not a religious (or even spiritual) person, I’ve always loved the journal, Image, whose mission is to “engage with the religious traditions of western culture.” So, I was ecstatic when the recently appointed nonfiction editor, Lauren F. Winner, accepted one of my new essays for publication. “The Dead Class” is a braided piece, […]
»MoreNew England Review is one of my all-time favorite journals, and it never ceases to be a thrill when NER accepts one of my pieces for publication. I was ecstatic to learn that another essay from Exhibition would appear in a journal I love so much. “Essay, Made of Antique Glass” is a lyric piece […]
»MoreI’m really delighted to have two poems from American Samizdat featured on Poetry Daily. The site has recently been revamped/remodeled/redone (what is the verb that we use for the overhaul of a website?), and it looks gorgeous. You can read my poems here.
»MoreIt’s always a thrill (and a surprise!) to have a poem featured on Verse Daily. So, I’m really happy to have something from American Samizdat posted on the site today. You can read the poem here.
»MoreI’ve always loved Shenandoah. When I first began writing poetry and dreaming about seeing my work in print, Shenandoah was one of my “aspirational” journals. I submitted poems to Shenandoah for many years before one was finally taken (“Bargaining with the Wolf,” which appears in my debut collection, The Hardship Post). So, when I submitted poems to the journal, […]
»MoreLast spring, while I was working on the manuscript that became American Samizdat, I was also writing a book of sonnets and heroic crowns, Simple Machines. Because a heroic crown contains 15 individual sonnets, I knew that my four heroic crowns would probably be challenging to publish. What journal would be willing to devote that […]
»MoreIn spring 2018, while I was working on the manuscript that became American Samizdat, I also began work on another manuscript of poetry. At the time, I was teaching a class called Form & Theory and, because my students writing formal poems, I decided to return to received forms too. And this is how Simple […]
»MoreNow that I’ve found a home for throughsmoke: an essay in notes, I’ve begun work on a new series of essays. This project, tentatively titled Exhibition, a Self-Portrait, focuses on what it was like to grow up in a home with a very fine art collection. If throughsmoke gave me an opportunity to experiment with flash nonfiction, then Exhibition is pushing […]
»MoreI’m currently suffering through a bad January cold. So, my mood was significantly lifted today when I found an advanced copy of American Samizdat waiting for me in my mailbox! The book won’t officially be released until the end of March. But, it’s already available for pre-order. So, if you feel like supporting your local poet, […]
»MoreBack in the rainy days of February, on a particularly gloomy Friday afternoon, I received a very unexpected email from Graywolf Press. Tracy K. Smith was editing a new poetry anthology, American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time, and she wanted to include “The Long Deployment” as one of the fifty poems! I was stunned. Now, […]
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