poetry

I came late to poetry — before 2014, I barely read poems, much less wrote them. Then I had the luck to receive a Wurlitzer Foundation Fellowship in Taos, New Mexico, where I planned to work on a (since sidelined) memoir project, and poems suddenly started surfaced. I’ve been fortunate to receive a Loft Mentor Series Award and a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant for my poetry, and in 2018 my first manuscript (book of poems), called Notes on Distance, was a finalist for Milkweed Editions’ Lindquist and Vennum Prize. Below is a list of poems I’ve published, some available online and some only in print or since taken down.

CONtents of a birth story: disordered, in third person // shooter literary magazine
the sun has just come up, 34 weeks // matter monthly
Liz Phair, 16 weeks, Riddle, 6 weeks // willow springs
NOTES on distance // PANK
you don't think the ice will be the thing that burns you // Conduit 
origin story // yes poetry
In the Southpoint Acupuncture Community Room // Gabby
dear minnetonka lake // passages north
Dear Wisconsin // Copper Nickel 
Dear You // Southeast Review, Volume 35.1 
Dear Lake of the Isles, Behold: the inexorable problema // B O D Y Literature 
Snow Day // Poetry City, USA, Volume 6
Metaphor // Extract(s) (this publication is no longer live)
Not even the sun, In a Second Story Apartment in a Small Midwestern Town, You Lament // Compose: A Journal of Simply Good Writing 
Fishing // The THIS Magazine (this publication is no longer live)
Riddle // Southern Humanities Review  (Volume 50)
Morning Meditation, Smoking on the Stoop at Night // Front Porch 

essay

I began writing personal essays in 2006, while working at NPR and gallivanting around Washington DC like the oblivious, carefree twenty-something I was. For ten years I wrote a (now deleted, thanks internet) blog called Dating in the Odyssey Years — which, over time, became less focused on my love life. I’ve also published a number of essays, many of which are available online, and linked below!

stomping our feet: tantrums, maternal instinct, mom rage, and burning it all down // mutha magazine
The self loathing MOTHer // mutha magazine
on the myths of being white and being exceptional // stillpoint magazine
breastfeeding was a disaster from the start. why was it so hard to stop trying? // scary mommy
What Do You Bring Pauline? // The Rumpus
The Least Likely of Objects // The Morning News
Our Food Porn Romance // Salon
Jackie // The Rumpus
Adventures In Insomnia // The Manifestation Station
Huffington Post Blog 
Dating is For Dummies // NPR
Ten Thousand Miles Away, But Feeling Tragedy's Real Effects // NPR
Finding True Love Beyond the Story  // NPR
Victorian Thorns In Today's Modern Love // NPR
A Mother's Love Sometimes A Bit Much  // NPR
Roses are Red, Text Messages Are Disposable // NPR
Dad's Madeleines: A Remembrance of Things Past // NPR Kitchen Window
Summer Sounds Series // NPR All Things Considered
My Mother Reads My Blog // Style Substance Soul 
Notes from a Prison Teacher: On Round Characters, Imagined and Real // Missouri Review Literature on Lockdown 
Blog For Ronan // Our Little Seal 
Dear Life // The Manifestation Station
"Only Child" Redefined // Psychology Today
Gail Caldwell On Memoir, Persona and the Writing Process // Loft Literary Center Writers Block Blog