“The way things work:” reconstruction and Jorie Graham

October 22, 2012October 23, 2012 ~ DC in DC ~ Leave a comment

I'm having some sort of mid-life crisis when it comes to my house. Suddenly I want to change everything: rip shelves out, move the furniture, paint every room a different color. Last night I spent hours perusing paint web sites, trying hundreds of colors on the online walls. And today I bought paint samples, despite … Continue reading “The way things work:” reconstruction and Jorie Graham

Returning to Blacksburg

April 16, 2012September 25, 2012 ~ DC in DC ~ Leave a comment

Today is the five-year anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Tech that claimed thirty-two innocent lives. I was an English major at Virginia Tech back in the nineties, so Blacksburg is a place full of memories for me. Like many other alumni, I mourn the loss of those lives, and the loss of innocence that … Continue reading Returning to Blacksburg

Juicing up your writing with a dose of randomness

December 3, 2011April 10, 2012 ~ DC in DC ~ Leave a comment

This week I’m taking part in an exercise with SPARK, an organization that pairs visual artists and writers so they may create work based on each others’ work. I was sent a .jpg file of a painting, which I will write a poem “about.” Although I have written a number of poems inspired by paintings … Continue reading Juicing up your writing with a dose of randomness

Submitting poems to journals: what’s your system?

July 13, 2011September 26, 2012 ~ DC in DC ~ Leave a comment

I've spent the last three years researching markets for my slightly traditional, imagistic poetry. I've been published in a number of places and discovered some great writers and journals, but what I can't help regretting is that much of that time could have been spent writing. I'm getting better at targeting my market; in the … Continue reading Submitting poems to journals: what’s your system?