I haven’t blogged in a while, so here’s a little update of the year to date…
I started the year with a jaunt to Alaska with my daughter. We were lucky enough to see both the Northern Lights and the top of Denali. It was stunning!
Around the same time, my poem Democracy Blocced was published by The Skinny Poetry Journal
and two of my poems appeared in Pen in Hand. It was also the first issue of Pen in Hand where I was a co-editor! We are so happy with how great things have been going since Rod Deacey and I took the helm.
One of my poems in the issue, Roadtrip, had been a part of the first ekphrastic event our chapter of MWA held with the Delaplaine, in November of 2022.
In February, I read Suburban Lies during an Armed Services Arts Partnership instructor showcase, then participated in a wonderful panel, Black History is All Our History, at Bird in Hand Cafe & Bookstore in Baltimore, with three other members of EC Poetry & Prose. That was a real privilege.
In March, I led a little table discussion at the Claggett Retreat Center; and judged two rounds of Poetry Out Loud as well as a preliminary round of slam at WOWPS.
My poem Pedestal was published in Maryland Bards Poetry Review; and somewhere around this time, my poem 156 Stewart Street was published in Plainsongs, and my haiku Plateau published in Blue Unicorn.
In April, I participated in an ekphrastic fundraiser, writing poetry to two of April M. Rimpo’s paintings (one of those poems later appearing in Pen in Hand).
In May, I taught Creating Poetry Out of Visual Art for Armed Services Arts Partnership, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I also got some amazing news: I’ll be heading to France in January for a writer’s residency!
In June, I read at another ekphrastic event at the Delaplaine.
I then spent over a month roadtripping–alllllllllll the way cross-country and back; over 9,000 miles by the end!! And boy did the route change… I was able to work on my manuscript 50 States in Haiku along the way!
August has been pretty busy. As soon as I returned from the roadtrip, I finished writing the foreword for the anthology of poetry from the contest I ran for Maryland Writers’ Association this summer (yes, that was squeezed in somewhere, too). Then, I joined my fellow EC Poetry & Prose poets for a reading at The Curmudgeon bookstore;
joined my fellow Maryland Writers’ Association Frederick Chapter members in hosting Literature Night & Open Mic at Sky Stage;
and was a feature at Manor Mill, where I was able to read a much broader sample of my work than usual. The venue was adorable! My daughter even came–her first time seeing me read!
Also in August, my poem Wörter verloren and two of my haiku appeared in Pen in Hand.
So…What’s coming up? In September, I’ll start teaching a 6-week creative writing workshop for Armed Services Arts Partnership and I’ll be participating in a virtual poetry summit. In October, there’s the Maryland Writers’ Association conference, where I’ll be busy as a bee: I’m presenting (whipping out my Linguist hat for “What Should You Consider When Creating a Language for Your World?”), I’m hosting open mic and reading some of my poetry, and I’m volunteering as a Conference Committee member. And, since the Write Women Book Fest takes place the same weekend, on Saturday I’ll be running over there to read some spoken word with EC Poetry & Prose. That’ll certainly be a busy day!
In November, I’ll be teaching another Poetry 101 workshop. Nothing is currently scheduled for December…yet! And then comes the excitement of January: a stopover in Iceland en route to my residency in France! Yay!
