River, Amen
Homebound Publications, April 2023 Winner of the Weatherford Award for Poetry! River, Amen reclaims religious rituals and resurrects them in the wilderness. What emerges is a deliberate dialogue with rivers, a celebrative creed for rewilding post-industrial landscapes. This immersive, restorative collection offers a new language for understanding our place in relation to the living world and a prophetic warning that we separate the physical and spiritual at our own peril. |
Robbing the Pillars
Homebound Publications, July 2020. The headwaters of Robbing the Pillars begin deep in the anthracite country of Pennsylvania and wind their way through mountain tributaries before reaching the Susquehanna River. These poems venture out west through smeared Nebraskan skies, up wild Washington waters, and into the Siskiyou Mountains as meteors split the sky on fire. They traverse the wet woods of Maine along the West Branch of the Penobscot River to the peak of Katahdin. They hike the Appalachian, Continental Divide, and Pacific Crest Trails. In the early coal mines of Pennsylvania, miners crawled into the deepest parts of the mines, set dynamite, and blew joists holding up walls in hopes of getting the last valuable rock before the mountain collapsed -- robbing the pillars. The poems in Robbing the Pillars are the dynamite, the pillars, the rock, the mountain, and the miners. They embrace terrains familiar and forgotten -- those which have been stripped and left to become wild again. They explore the physical (geological, riverine), familial, personal, and cultural landscapes of our world as we rob its pillars. |
Broadsides
I wrote "River Theology" in honor of the conservation efforts that have worked to establish wilderness areas and wild & scenic rivers. Specifically, this poem was written during my Artist Residency in The Bob Marshall Wilderness where I stayed in a cabin for two weeks along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. This river was supposed to be dammed, but thanks to the efforts of many people and organizations, it was protected and is still a free flowing wild river. You can purchase a limited edition (only 25 printed) broadside (signed & numbered) through the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation with all the proceeds going to the organization and in support of the Artist in Residence Program or directly through me. 11X17
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To celebrate the official release of Robbing the Pillars, I have collaborated with the incredibly talented Grace Kominsky to design two art prints (broadsides) featuring the title poem. The prints are 6”x8", signed, and perfect for framing.
Chapbooks
Songenizios: Poems Inspired by Songs (co-written with Andrew Jones) - June 2020, Competent Backstop (Amazon)
What I Know [How to Do] - Finishing Line Press, October 2019