Poems

Journals staffed by volunteers and those passionate about writing make it possible for writers to get their work into the world; it's thanks to them my work has appeared or is forthcoming in the following places.

• “The Physics of It” in Issue 24 of The Shore. The poem also appeared on Verse Daily, and you can hear me read it on Verse Daily’s Substack.

• “Toward Memphis, 1” and “Toward Memphis, 2” in the Fall/Winter 2024 issue of Hypertext Review. These are the first poems in a nine-poem series. “Toward Memphis, 5” is forthcoming in the anthology The Overturning, published by Erratics Press.

• “Houseboats,” “For the Sake of Conversation,” and “Curious” in the Winter 2023 issue of Sugar House Review (#27). You can read “Houseboats” here, which was featured on Verse Daily.

• “Chasing Images,” “Leaving England,” and “Tuning In” in UCity Review, June 2023.

• “Mulberry Tree” featured on Verse Daily, and originally in Sugar House Review 24, Summer 2022, which selected it as one of six of its Pushcart Prize nominations. You can listen to me read it.

You’ll find these poems in the journals listed below, and also in my collection Starting Again:

• “Voices” featured on Verse Daily

• “Crossing Nevada” featured on Verse Daily (and originally in Pleiades 24:1)

• “With Time,” Cider Press Review, Vol. 20, Issue 3. (The poem is also featured on Shuly Cawood's blog and recited by Robert McCready on Evening Magic.)

• “Viewing Reagan’s Casket,” The Laurel Review, Issue 51.1

• "Altadena," Vandal Poem of the Day, originally in Poetry Northwest, 09.2. (This poem has taken on more meaning for me since the destruction of much of Altadena in the fires of January 2025.)

• "Boys' Life" and "Called," MAYDAY Magazine, Issue 11

• "From Within" and "Farther Than I Thought", TAB: The Journal of Poetry and Poetics, Vol. 3, Issue 2. “From Within” was a Pushcart Prize nomination. (You’ll need to scroll down to find the issue it’s in.)

• "Nicaragua" and "Joe," Tulane Review, Spring 2012 (scroll back to pgs. 21 and 25)

• "Corner Store," Rattle, Vol. 13, No. 1

My poems also appeared in Southern Poetry Review, Prairie Schooner, AGNI Online, Georgetown Review, Lake Region Review, Knockout, and Chelsea.

My Collection Starting Again

Things feel on the verge of coming undone in many of the poems of Starting Again. The poems express an impulse to move beyond that, to start again or to want to stitch together rifts in ordinary moments like the aftermath of a hospital stay, getting stuck on a sandy road in a desert, childlessness, loss of political conviction, depression, and other everyday threats to a sense of hope. The poems ask whether we know what we have and if we can see experience as whole when we feel small disconnects—tugs “at a loose thread.”

Some amazing writers have said generous things about the collection: Michael Collier (a wonderful former teacher), Pamela Carter Joern, and David R. Slavitt. I'm grateful. You can read those here at the Finishing Line Press page for Starting Again.

Cover Art

I'm fortunate to have Scott Fortino's work "purplehotel" featured on the cover of Starting Again. The juxtaposition of imagery resonates for me and mirrors what I try to do with images in my poems. Please check out his other work at scottfortino.com.