Emerging from the Rabbit Hole
This spring found me digging deeply into teaching remotely through COVID-19, and this summer I’ve been learning how to do so more effectively before the fall semester. I’ve also been working on projects for Perugia Press, including editing our latest publication, launching our new website, and working with our first-ever intern. In both of my jobs, much time has been invested in reflection and action in the wake of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and George Floyd and renewed attention to the Black Lives Matter movement. Consequently, I have not been focused on highlighting my own work as a writer, but I do have some things to share. So, here’s a round-up of winter and spring publications and projects that I have yet to share here:
* “Look Again: A Woodcut & Poetry Collaboration,” inspired by the New York Times “Overlooked” series, was hung but was not able to be viewed by the public in the spring of 2020 due to COVID-19. However, this beautiful show was captured in a 4-minute+ film. The video includes artist Julie Lapping Rivera discussing the genesis of her project, her beautiful woodcuts, and excerpts of accompanying poems read by me, Rage Hezekiah, Libby Maxey, and Sharon Tracey:
* My poems “A Pair of Gloves” and “Listening to the Neighbor Girl Who Beat the Moonrise to Pick Something up from the Corner Store during the Pandemic” were featured in Bracken Magazine’s “Corona Hopelings” issue, along with audio recordings & a photograph. Here’s a video of me reading this poem as part of a virtual faculty reading for Ely Library at Westfield State University, posted on the library’s Facebook page.
* My poem “Cape Ann” was published in the print journal Mom Egg Review‘s “Home” Issue. Here’s a short video of me reading the poem in their virtual issue launch reading.
* My poem “Wrecked, Off Pavilion Beach,” published in the print journal Crab Creek Review in 2019, was highlighted in their online blog series that features poems from their archives.
* Three collaborative poem/collage pairings made by my creative partner Elizabeth Paul and me were featured in Aperçus Literary Magazine.
* My poem “Golden Shovel Full of Darkness, Southern Flowers, and Moondust,” written in honor of poet David Cloud Berman, was published in Tinderbox Poetry Journal.
* My poem “Basho muses that poets make poems like woodcutters swiftly fell trees” was published in The Massachusetts Review in Volume 60, Issue 4, celebrating the magazine’s sixtieth year of publication.