"Story Mountain" published by Fine Lines

One of my poems, "Story Mountain," is in the current issue of Fine Lines.

three of my poems published

 "Showing My Husband what I Learned in Elementary Ballet during a Whiteout in Omaha, Nebraska", "Memorial Day Weekend, Omaha Boarding House " and "Rapture" are included in the spring 2017 issue of the After Happy Hour Review. The selection is definitely influenced by relocating to the Midwest.

"Lisa in the Galaxies" and "New York party scene: twenty-four and" published by Thistle Magazine

two of my poems-- "Lisa in the Galaxies" and "New York party scene: twenty four and" are in the current issue (Growth) of Thistle Magazine. It's a gorgeous mag, and if you hate to read, you should download it just for the aesthetic. It's that beautiful. www.thistlemagazine.com

two poems, "Lisa in the Galaxies," about my Aunt's death a few months ago, and "New York party scene: twenty-four" were picked up for publication in the forthcoming issue of Thistle Magazine. 

I'm super stoked to have two poems I really love in such a gorgeous magazine.

"New York party scene: twenty-four" is the poem I like best to read aloud, at least of my own work. I get to every woman in it. I get to be the antagonist. The person I am when I'm at my best, one I mostly feel when I'm in the streets with a little pocket money, the day bright and perplexing, knowing that the universe, just at that moment, pushed me out the door. Dropped me from the stars with every bit of force I'd need. 

"Paper Trees with Paper Plums" published in Fine Lines

on this snowy day, I found the vibrant winter issue of Fine Lines in my office mailbox today! So happy to have "Paper Trees with Paper Plums" published in such a long-standing and beautiful journal.

"First Individual Lesson with the Ballet Mistress Trained at the Royal Academy, set to the Coda of Swan Lake" published

"First Individual Lesson with the Ballet Mistress Trained at the Royal Academy, set to the Coda of Swan Lake" was published in the annual issue of Paper Nautilus. And it's beautiful. 

"When the Skeleton Meets the Stranger" published at The Furious Gazelle

My short story, "When the Skeleton Meets the Stranger" has been picked up by The Furious Gazelle.

The narrative is the second part to a previously published piece, "Who Are the Fantasy Girls?" (at BlazeVox).

The beginnings of each piece start in the true parts of my personal experience in NYC, but sway farther out into some other, darker circumstance, dictated by the main character.

"Weekends in the Forest" published in the South Florida Poetry Journal

my poem "Weekends in the Forest" is in the current issue of the South Florida Poetry Journal, and I couldn't be happier! The South Florida Poetry Journal has published some of my favorite poets, those I had the pleasure of studying at Blake, who were actually amazing enough to lead workshops in our high school classrooms. at such a young age, when kids are directed to do other things than write creatively, those engagements encouraged me and reinforced my need and absolute pleasure to be, and always be, a writer.

"Pastoral of the Morning Chore" is in the fall issue of Midnight Circus

volume no. 13.

"Gretel in the Burned House" published in the Gingerbread House Review

My poem "Gretel in the Burned House" has been published by the Gingerbread House Review. The artwork is beautiful too. Here is the link.

two of my ballet poems published at Otis Nebula

two of my ballet poems, "The Conversation with the Woman before She Fell Headfirst into the Studio Mirrors, Three Minutes Before Ballet Class" and "Second Individual Lesson, at the Barre, with the Ballet Mistress Trained at the Royal Academy" have found a home in issue 11 of Otis Nebula. I love the art and layout of the issue. It's gorgeous.

"Mermaid Show' published by Leopardskin and Limes

my poem "Mermaid Show" is now up at Leopardskin & Limes. it is set in Spring Hill, Florida, at the Weeki Watchee mermaid show, which has been around since 1947. 

1 story + 1 poem picked up for publication

my short story "Teeth" was picked up for publication last Friday, and my poem "Mermaid Show" was picked up this morning. Both in upcoming issues of separate journals.

pretty awesome.

"Who are the Fantasy Girls?" published in the 15th anniversary issue of Blaze VOX

my story "Who are the Fantasy Girls?" was just published in the 15th anniversary issue of BlazeVOX.

"She kept chanting it over and over again, like an incantation that would take her far from there: stripped bare and new. She could walk into another light that would transport her into the space of her memories. Where God would turn the telescope around, and look at her, down there, locked deep in a circle of hell. He’d realize she wasn’t ready; she was too young to be buried, and his hand would break through the sky, the trees, that apartment building, and pluck her up easily, tell her the things she needed to know to keep going."

you can read it here.

my short story "Maps" is in Volume 13 of The Mangrove Review

"Maps" the follow up to "The Buzzkill" (which was published by The Bicycle Review), was recently published in the current issue of The Mangrove Review.

updates: days and publication

I guess it may be strange that the moment I move five thousand miles away from where I was born and raised, I decided that photos are kind of dumb, and chronicles are kind of dumb. I read a few months ago that kids make up half their memories. There is this miraculous little space in our minds where we (hopefully) nurture our imaginations and ingenuity so we'll have it later-- when the world gets real rough, and we're expected wield a battle ax-- the place where our imagination can save us-- and there is a mark against the make believe, a mark against our memories.

So I decided that it is my place to create a world for my son.

                            it is my place to chronicle some things,

but not everything. Not even close. I keep thinking about Dostoyevsky's idea that ONE GOOD MEMORY CAN SAVE YOU SOMEDAY. And how true that it is, and if I'm going to give my son anything, I'm going to let him create his memories.

After all, the greatest parts of my own childhood are the moments I remember; it's the memories that have turned into stories. Those moments I've fleshed out the more and more I've thought about them. 

That's real beauty.

Along with this, I closed most of my social media accounts, and I turned the lock and key on everything. It's kind of funny. It's kind of funny the way life can become this secret thing all over again when you're not your shadow anymore.

What else?

My book is coming along.

All six of the stories I've completed have been picked up for publication. Most recently (this means two days ago), BlazeVOX picked up the title story: "Who are the Fantasy Girls?"

This is pretty amazing.

I finished the seventh story last week and sent it out.

The eighth story, which I'm finally beginning the draft on, is something I've been mapping and charting, changing and seriously avoiding, for at least 7 months. I don't know why.

Yes I do. It's funny and warped. It's desperate and draining, and it reminds me of probably too many things I don't like to think about. But honestly, ugh

It's just going to get more difficult. I know where I'm going.
                                                         I know everything that's happening,
                                                         who it's happening to
                                                         because it's already happened.


I've been going to church since September.
When I was small, we went to church consistently until I was seven.

Then everything kind of fell apart for a while.

I mean, you know, thank God for those memories that save us.
and kindness. Thanks God for that too.

I guess, at the end of all of this, I'll say I feel more alive than I've ever felt.
I feel confused, sensory, all that world Whitman was talking about.

The one I didn't really know.
The one I'm beginning to walk through now.

"Bunny Doesn't Want to Talk About It" published by The Outrider Review

my short story "Bunny Doesn't Want to Talk About It" (the one about me catching a Peeping Tom on the roof of my house when I was fourteen) is in the current issue of The Outrider Review!

http://www.scoutpublishingllc.com/

3 poems selected for publication

this morning, I got word that three of my poems-- "Hunger," "My Only Darling is Asleep in the Sea," and "I Would Have Sent Oranges" -- have all been selected for publication in a very cool journal, The Birds We Piled Loosely.

"Bunny Doesn't Want to Talk About It" picked up for publication

my short story "Bunny Doesn't Want to Talk About It," which is about that one time I had that one peeping tom who climbed my roof, just got picked up by The Outrider Review. It'll be out in July.

"Squeeze Box" published by ragazine.cc

my short story "Squeeze Box" was just published in the March/April 2015 issue of ragazine.cc. it is a story about a stripper and her stage mom, and the speculative events that lead to the mother's death. this story may not be safe for work. 

"Before she was found beneath the interstate, her face half-missing, her body stripped clean, except for the fingers with their golden rings, Destiny’s mother stayed busy."

here is the link to "Squeeze Box"