Poet / Performer / Community Organizer
August 10, 2015
I stumbled across a gorgeous poem by Rachel Mennies the other day, called “Poem: For Rose,” which speaks to the ritual of Jews naming their babies after the dead. Mennies calls the ritual “practical,” but for me it is a practice—a religious performance, repeated and carried out through time so that, according to the Talmud, the work of God continues to be “drawn down into this world through a person’s name.”
July 24, 2015
In July I received exciting news in the form of an mp3.
June 10, 2015
My husband, another couple, and I sat in the living room of an eco-designed concrete and wood constructed cottage on a vista in Molokai. We looked out at the shadow of Oahu resting upon the vast Pacific Ocean while sipping homemade Dark & Stormy cocktails in celebration of New Years Eve.
April 18, 2015
Back in 2007, poet Noah Eli Gordon wrote that, “From the 16th to the 19th century, chapbooks flourished as a locus of popular culture, religion, folklore, myth, history, poetry, and story; for many, they were the sole link connecting them to the events of the day, and, implicitly, to a sense of personal identity.” in his article “Considering Chapbooks: A Brief History of the Little Book” in Jacket 34. Historically, chapbooks were sort of like our present-day Facebook pages, Tumblrs, and tweets.
April 16, 2015
Barbara lived with her husband Alex in one of the largest retirement communities in South Florida. Their apartment was only one flight up from my grandparents’ place, a modest two bedroom with low ceiling fans and a large mirrored wall.
April 1, 2015
Laptop, check. Overpriced but adorable handmade notebook, check. My favorite blue Papermate pens, check.
March 15, 2015
The morning started off with a gloomy chill off the North Shore. A few chickens pecking in the yard interrupted the early morning silence. My husband and I have a newly adopted Saturday morning routine. We sink into our side-by-side wicker chairs on the lanai, share a pot of coffee, and read until noon.
March 9, 2015
As a poet who is also a woman, writing in a space that has been historically dominated by men, I’m constantly trying to understand what it means to write like a woman. Is it the content of domesticity, chock-full of ironing boards, plated dinners, and brooms that make a poem “feminine”? Is it the language of the hyper-lyrical, the presence of the confessional “I,” or the omission of gender signifiers? Is women’s writing concerned only with the body and skin? Is women’s poetry political, or is it apolitical? Is it gurlesque, grotesque, or something else?
March 3, 2015
There are many interesting side conversations that came up in response to Ryan Boudinot’s horrific and self-indulgent critique of his MFA students. If you haven’t read it, waste a few minutes by going here, or just read my response for a short summary of his Goddard bash-fest.