It’s almost the end of August. My school year has started. And as I look ahead to autumn, I’m excited to think about The Wounded Line: A Guide to Writing Poems of Trauma, which will be published by University of New Mexico Press on November 4, 2025. It took about 18 months to write the book. But, really, I’ve been writing it in my imagination and through my pedagogy in the creative writing classroom, for the last two decades.

Launching a craft book requires different strategies than does the release of a poetry collection. I’m not, for instance, going to do large, dramatic readings from The Wounded Line while I stand behind a lectern. Instead, I’m planning to host small Zoom workshops where participants will be able to get a little taste of the book, try out a generative writing prompt, and discuss the challenges they’ve experienced when trying to represent trauma on the page. If you’re interested in hosting one of these workshops, I would love to hear from you.

I’ve also been writing short essays in advance of the book’s release. You can read three pieces that first appeared in Poets & Writers here, here, and here. And I’m looking forward to spreading the news about The Wounded Line in other ways as well, for instance, when I read from my most recent collection, Civilians, at the Six Bridges Book Festival in October and when I visit my alma mater, St. John’s College, as part of the Poets in the Conversation Reading Series. Please, reach out to me if you would like me to come talk about The Wounded Line or any of my other books at your academic institution!