Publications
Parenting in the Age of Columbine
My daughter was born the week after the Columbine shootings. This book is a braided collection of docupoems about mass shootings, personal poems of parenting, and quotes from external sources. The back matter includes notes and additional resources.
I Am From: Voices from the Mako House in Ghana
I spent nearly a month in a rural village in the Volta region of Ghana, running poetry workshops at a boarding house for at-risk children. A month without ac or hot water, making amazing friends and memories. This book was conceived as academic enrichment, to strengthen English literacy skills and self-confidence. All profits benefit the Mako Children’s Fund.
A Collection of Partings: Poems
This chapbook was inspired by the quote “Pip, dear old chap, life is made of every so many partings welded together.”. It is originally from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, but I stumbled over it in a photo collection called Literary Chickens. Inspiration struck.
When Lawyers Wept
A full-length collection in two sections. The first contains the complete text of the Rattle chapbook Did You Know? The second section includes new and previously published poems, some prompted by stories in the news.
Did You Know?
This chapbook started as a response to a story slam prompt “Tangled Web.” What poured out was the story of growing up in a dysfunctional family in times that were changing. A memoir in poetry that won the Rattle Chapbook Prize in 2018.
What I Learned
My first book includes poems that span decades of my writing. After a hiatus as a single parent I joined a local open mic group which met every week. Every week I prepared a new poem or unearthed an older one. Prompts and a deadline. Priceless.