Hi Everyone,

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve updated!

Before we get into some very exciting poetry news, I’ve officially made a new website for myself. Check it out.

Now, poetry news! Two very exciting things occurred in 2017: My chapbook, Like a Beast, won the 2016 Rick Campbell Chapbook Prize and is out now from Anhinga Press!

The other major announcement is that Carl Phillips chose my manuscript, Ceremonial, as the winner of the 2017 Orison Poetry Prize, and is forthcoming in Feb. 2018 from Orison Books.

You can see poems from both projects that have come out since my last update in Bone Bouquet,  Zocalo Public Square, Ovenbird, Nashville Review, West Branch and Boston Review.

So, check out the new website for all future updates!

• I’ve had poems recently appear in Tinderbox Editions  (with other amazing poets like Peter LaBerge and Tiana Clark–you can read the issue we appear in here), Devil’s Lake, Gulf Coast (I freaked out when I saw the issue: Traci Brimhall, Sara Eliza Johnson, Shane McCrae, my mentor Ilya Kaminsky and so many other stars in there) and The Adroit Journal, where my dearest friend M.K. Foster and I get to live our dream of finally having poems together, and it’s made even sweeter since our work shares space with Kaveh Akbar, Jennifer K. Sweeney, Matthew Nienow, Carolina Ebeid, and so many other amazing poets (which you can read here).
• The Poetry Society of America interviewed Memorious Editor-in-Chief and fabulous poet, Rebecca Morgan Frank, about Memorious, and she was kind enough to highlight my poem, “Why You Tried to Drown,” as a recent poem she loves! Check out the interview here, and if you’re interested in reading the poem, here it is!
• I also had the joyous opportunity to be a part of The Adroit Journal Mentorship Program, where I worked with two amazing high school poets for the past six weeks. Seriously, this was such a wonderful experience, and my mentees were so brilliant, insightful, and joyous to work with.

More new work is coming out later in the year, so more soon!

I received my contributor copy of Third Coast (which happens to be their 20 year anniversary issue!) and am so thrilled about it. The poem, “Anti-Pioneer,” actually began from a prompt  Timothy Donnelly gave my workshop at the Juniper Writing Institute, and I couldn’t be more grateful for that prompt or his support.

The issue is seriously full of goodness–seriously, take a look at the Table of Contents! I’m lucky to be in an issue with my friend Anna Goodson, plus amazing poets Wesley Rothman, Lo Kwa Mei-en, Emilia Phillips, Ruth Baumann, and so so so many more talented writers.

I’ve been busy working on the next books for Locked Horn Press, reading for Cider Press Review and The Los Angeles Review (send to us!), and catching up on some overdue reading (currently am in love with Shane McCrae’s The Animal Too Big to Kill and Jenny Offill’s Dept. of Speculation). But tonight I got news that the new issue of burntdistrict is officially live, and I am so lucky to have two poems in it! “When You Find Me, Ragged, Remember” was probably sent out a good 40+ times (definitely over 2 years), and “Ceremonial: Heart of the Trottered Beast” is one I workshopped a bit this past summer at the Tin House Writers’ Workshop. I cannot thank Liz Kay, Jen Lambert, and my dear friend Lauren Gordon, who guest-edited such a beautiful issues with stunners like Flower Conroy (a dear friend), Hanif Abdurraqib, Maggie Smith, and many more.

I’ve been busy with a lot of family time (holidays, right?), so I’m finally getting a chance to breathe and update.

First, I had a poem published in The Grief Diaries in December. I cannot thank Carlie Hoffman for asking me to send her some poems and for supporting my work since we met two years ago.

Second, I found out that I made someone’s required reading list! His name is Anthony Frame, and he listed his 50 or so poems that he returned to throughout the year here. My poem, “Why You Tried to Drown” (published in Memorious) is listed with my dear friends Peter LaBerge and EJ Koh, along with poets I admire (Kazim Ali, Jennifer Givhan, Sara Biggs Chaney, Danez Smith, Ocean Vuong, and many others). It’s surreal, to say the least, since you never know who your work reaches (unless they reach out and tell you, or like the post where you share your work, sure!).

I’ve also made a reading resolution: to read all of the books on my bookshelf. We’ll see how it goes–I have a lot of long-winded fiction on my shelves, so I would be happy to complete all the poetry collections and at least 10 novels/short story collections.

So, there you have it! Here’s to 2016!

I entered college as an Econ major with plans to become a fashion marketer and write on the side. As soon as I finished my first Econ class, I decided I didn’t enjoy it and wanted to pursue an English major instead. When I told my roommate at the time, she let me know that she was taking a poetry course, and told me to take it since she knew I was writing poems in my journal. So once I got through some of the general requirements, I found myself in my first official poetry class in Winter 2010 and on my way to pursuing an emphasis in Creative Writing.

My first poetry professor, Leah Dunham, was absolutely fantastic, and like any curious student, I googled her one day. That’s when I discovered Leah’s poems in Blackbird, and fell in love not only with her poems, but with the journal as well. They were my first favorite journal, one I pointed everyone to whenever journals or poems were brought up, and they have remained one of my absolute favorites since.

So, fast forward and now I have two poems in Blackbird. When I got the acceptance letter, I nearly passed out in my office. It’s honestly such a good issue, too–my friend Ruth Madievsky has two gorgeous poems, and I’ve been reading Kimberly Grey’s “How We Take Our Grief” at least once a week since the issue came out a few weeks ago (and both of them have books coming out in 2016, wink wink).

So, totally dream status/update/read Blackbird forever and ever–like I said, they publish amazing work, and it’s a dream to have these poems in there.