EDUCATION
Western Michigan University
- PhD in English with Creative Writing Emphasis, June 2008
- Dissertation: Intimacy (poetry)
- Committee: Dr. William Olsen (director), Dr. Nancy Eimers, Anne Marie Macari
- Areas of Specialization:
- American Literature
- Modern and Contemporary Poetry
- Women’s and Gender Studies
The Bennington Writing Seminars
- MFA in Creative Writing, January 2000
- Thesis: The Mind of Water (poetry)
- Committee: April Bernard (director), Thomas Sayers Ellis, Jane Hirshfield
Amherst College
- BA in English and Fine Arts (magna cum laude), May 1996
- Thesis: Songlines (poetry)
- Committee: Judith Frank (director), April Bernard, Karl Kirchwey
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
Associate Professor, Chair of the Department of English & Communication Arts, Director of the Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing
Hood College, Department of English & Communication Arts, Frederick, MD, Fall 2008 – present
Doctoral Associate
Western Michigan University, Department of English, Kalamazoo, MI, Fall 2004 – Spring 2008
Teaching Assistant
The Prague Summer Program, Prague, Czech Republic, July 2005
Adjunct English Faculty
Orange Coast College, Department of English, Costa Mesa, CA, Spring 2000
ESL Instructor
Concordia University, English Language School, Irvine, CA, Spring 1999
COURSES TAUGHT
Hood College
- Advanced Poetry Writing
- African American Poetry
- American Literature
- American Transcendentalism & Dark Romanticism
- The Coming of Age Story
- Creative Nonfiction
- Creative Writing
- Elizabeth Bishop & Sylvia Plath
- Forms in Poetry
- Intermediate Poetry Writing
- Modern American Poetry
- Walt Whitman & Emily Dickinson
- Women’s Poetry
- Writing on Art
Western Michigan University
- American Literature to 1865
- Advanced Poetry Writing
- Introduction to Writing Fiction and Poetry
The Prague Summer Program
- Poetry Workshop with Anne Marie Macari and Maurya Simon
Orange Coast College
- Freshman Composition
Concordia College
- English as a Second Language
PUBLICATIONS
Books
- Requiem with an Amulet in Its Beak, The Washington Writers’ Publishing House, October 2019
- The Spite House, C&R Press, May 2011
Anthologies
- This Is What America Looks Like: The Washington Writers’ Publishing House Anthology, “The New Normal,” 2020
- Best New Fictions 2020, “Palomas, Ciudad de Mexico,” 2020
- More Truly and More Strange: 100 Contemporary American Self-Portrait Poems, “Self-Portrait as Kurt Cobain’s Muse,” 2020
- Come as You Are: An Anthology of 90s Pop Culture, “Self-Portrait as Kurt Cobain’s Imaginary Friend,” 2017
- Best New Poets 2007, “Betray,” 2007
- Beyond the Valley of the Contemporary Poets, “Spiderman Contemplates Cryonic Suspension as Religion,” “Spiderman Converts to Buddhism,” “Spiderman Is Stranded in Florence the Week of 9/11,” “Spiderman on the Paradigm of Marriage,” 2003
- Catena, “After Thebes,” 2003
Journals
- Copper Nickel, “How I Am (Not) Like Bo Burnham,” 2023
- The Sun, “Portrait of the Poet as a Child,” 2023
- North American Review: “Active Shooter Drill,” 2023
- Pleiades, “For My Student Who Claims That Where the Wild Things Are Is Not a Queer Text,” 2023
- Atlanta Review, “It’s Okay to Worry about the State of Britney Spears’s Mental Health,” 2022
- Gargoyle, “Black Friday,” “Self-Portrait as Stormy Daniels off Camera,” 2019
- North American Review, “Hysterectomy,” “Koko the Gorilla Is Dead,” “Like Running into Hillary Clinton in the Woods,” “Threnody with a White Ford Bronco inside It,” 2019
- Poetry Northwest, “Poem in the Manner of the Year in Which I Was Born,” 2019
- Salamander, “Meditation,” “Postmortem,” 2018
- The Carolina Quarterly, “The Cemetery Is Full of People Who Would Love to Have Your Problems,” “Self-Elegy with Hand Grenade,” 2018
- Green Mountains Review, “Palomas, Ciudad de Mexico,” 2018
- Ghost Town, “My Past Life as a Card Shark,” “My Past Life as a Rock Star,” 2018
- Cider Press Review, “My Past Life as a Puritan,” “My Past Life as the Wife of Herman Melville,” 2018, “Cambria, Easter Sunday,” 2002
- Sugar House Review, “Hunter’s Moon, Gettysburg,” 2018
- The Massachusetts Review, “Sixth Year: Iron,” 2018, “Intimacy,” 2006
- Harpur Palate, “Transfiguration,” “Ninth Year: Willow,” 2018
- Valparaiso Poetry Review, “After the Flood,” 2018
- Kenyon Review, “Lament in the Style of Monica Lewinsky’s Blue Dress,” “Self-Portrait as Cindy Sherman’s Instagram Account,” 2018
- Beloit Poetry Journal, “Curiosity Sings Happy Birthday to Itself,” 2018
- Quarterly West, “My Brain Is Mad for Baudrillard,” 2018
- Barrow Street, “Fifth Year: Wood,” 2018, “The Dead Sea,” 2007
- Southern Poetry Review, “Eighth Year: Bronze,” 2018
- 32 Poems, “Faith,” 2017
- Cimarron Review, “Recurring Dream: Elevator,” 2017
- The Journal, “Starman Tractate #1: Looking for Your Ass,” “Starman Tractate #2: Homo Superior,” 2017
- B O D Y, “Cache la Poudre,” “My Past Life as a Songbird,” 2017
- Rattle, “The Year of the Eclipse,” 2017
- River Styx, “The Great Mysteries,” 2017
- Rise Up Review, “Fourth of July,” 2017
- Sonora Review, “Chameleon, Comedian, Corinthian and Caricature,” 2017
- Split Lip Magazine, “My Past Life as a Dinosaur,” 2017
- DMQ Review, “My Past Life as a Supernova,” 2017, “Eurydice’s Lament,” 2002, “Postscript from Hades,” 2001
- Literary Mama, “Capital I,” 2017
- Mom Egg Review, “During the Glucose Tolerance Test,” 2017
- New Orleans Review, “Requiem with an Amulet in Its Beak,” 2017
- LUMINA, “Elegy with Spray Paint Can,” 2017
- What Rough Beast, “Is That a Gun in Your Pocket,” 2017
- The Ekphrastic Review, “Last Tango in Paris,” “Minority Report,” 2016
- Spoon River Poetry Review, “Self-Portrait as the Love Child of Kurt Cobain and Emily Dickinson,” 2016
- Jam Tarts, “Self-Portrait as Kurt Cobain Wrestling with the Angel,” “Self-Portrait as Kurt Cobain’s Hungry Ghost,” “Self-Portrait as Kurt Cobain’s Left-Handed Guitar,” “Self-Portrait as Kurt Cobain’s Muse,” 2016
- Literal Latté, “Self-Portrait as Kurt Cobain in Drag,” “Self-Portrait as Kurt Cobain’s Childhood Wound,” 2016
- Free State Review, “On Poets Who Grow Beards,” 2015
- The Adirondack Review, “Elegy with a Cameo Appearance by Linda Ronstadt,” “Song While the Children Are Napping,” “Your Life Is Meaningless,” 2015
- Ekphrasis, “Goya’s Red Boy,” “The Young Virgin,” 2014
- The Offending Adam, “Ark,” “The Oak,” “Spiderman on the Archeology of Memory,” 2012
- CUTTHROAT, “What Clytemnestra Saw,” 2009
- The Laurel Review, “The Garden,” 2008
- Iron Horse Literary Review, “The Crossing,” “Reading Jack Gilbert,” “Self-Portrait: Cold Shoulder,” 2007
- RHINO, “On Running into Jorie Graham in a Bathroom Stall at the Armand Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, or the Poem I Always Wanted to Write about Antigone,” 2007
- Flights, “Ossuary,” “Self-Portrait as Japanese Stripper,” 2006
- Mid-American Review, “The Burning Bush,” “Lost Letter #9,” “Lost Letter #12,” 2006
- Washington Square, “Lost Letter #7,” Lost Letter #13,” 2006
- Post Road, “Indelible,” “Uninvited Guest,” 2005
- AGNI Online, “Self-Portrait as Amputation,” 2005
- Crab Orchard Review, “Spiderman Considers a Career Change,” 2004
- Poet Lore, “Backyard Light, Late February,” 2002
Websites
Verse Daily, “The Martian,” 2022
The Drum, “Capital I,” “Self-Portrait as Kurt Cobain Wrestling with the Angel,” “Is That a Gun in Your Pocket,” 2019
Academy of American Poets, “My Brain Is Mad for Baudrillard,” “Poem in the Manner of the Year in Which I Was Born,” “Self-Portrait as Cindy Sherman’s Instagram Account,” “Requiem with an Amulet in Its Beak,” 2018
Poetry Society of America, “Fourth of July,” 2018
Verse Daily, “Uninvited Guest,” 2011
Writers at Work, “The Burning Bush,” 2011
AWARDS AND HONORS
Winner
- International Poetry Prize, Atlanta Review, “It’s Okay to Worry about the State of Britney Spears’s Mental Health,” 2022
- Frederick Arts Council, Create and Activate Now Recover Grant, 2022, 2023
- Jean Feldman Poetry Prize, Washington Writers’ Publishing House, Requiem with an Amulet in Its Beak, 2019
- Robert H. Winner Memorial Award, Poetry Society of America, 2018
- Maryland State Artist Council Individual Artist Award, 2017
- Literal Latté Poetry Award, “Self-Portrait as Kurt Cobain in Drag,” “Self-Portrait as Kurt Cobain’s Childhood Wound,” 2015
- De Novo Prize for Poetry, C&R Press, The Spite House, 2010
- Discovered Voices Award, Iron Horse Literary Review, “The Crossing,” “Reading Jack Gilbert,” “Self-Portrait: Cold Shoulder,” 2007
- Best New Poets, Open Competition, Meridian, “Betray,” 2007
- Graduate Poetry Award, Western Michigan University, “Intimacy,” 2006
Finalist
- James Hearst Poetry Prize, “Active Shooter Drill,” 2023
- Robert Watson Literary Prize, “Against Relatability,” 2022
- Goldstein Poetry Prize, “Against Relatability,” 2022
- Joy Harjo Poetry Prize, “Against Relatability,” 2021
- James Hearst Poetry Prize, “Like Running into Hillary Clinton in the Woods,” 2019
- Moon City Press Poetry Award, Requiem with an Amulet in Its Beak, 2019
- Pleiades Press Editors’ Prize, Requiem with an Amulet in Its Beak, 2018
- 42 Miles Press Poetry Award, Requiem with an Amulet in Its Beak, 2018
- Cider Press Review Book Award (Runner-up), The Spite House, 2009
- Lexi Rudnitsky Poetry Prize, The Spite House, 2008
- Richard Snyder Publication Prize, The Spite House, 2007
Semifinalist
- Julie Suk Prize for Best Poetry Book (Longlist), Requiem with an Amulet in Its Beak, 2020
- The Word Works Washington Prize, Requiem with an Amulet in Its Beak, 2018
- University of Arkansas Press Poetry Series, The Spite House, 2008
- Crab Orchard Review Open and First Book Competitions, The Spite House, 2006, 2007
- Brittingham and Pollak Poetry Prizes, The Spite House, 2006
- Elixir Poetry Prize, The Spite House, 2006
- Morse Poetry Prize, The Spite House, 2006
Nominations
- AWP Intro Journals Project, “Self-Portrait as Japanese Stripper,” 2004, “Self Portrait as Amputation,” 2005, “Self-Portrait: Cold Shoulder,” 2006
- Pushcart Prize, Post Road, “Uninvited Guest,” 2006, C&R Press, “Betray,” “Intimacy,” “Self-Portrait Triptych: Japanese Stripper,” 2011
- Bettering American Poetry Volume 3, Rise Up Review, “Fourth of July,” 2018
ADDITIONAL PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Poetry Editor
The Baltimore Review, November 2018 – present
Conference Faculty
The Hood College Young Writers’ Conference, August 2010
Visiting Writer
Meacham Writers’ Workshop, Fall 2008
Assistant Coordinator of the Creative Writing Program
Western Michigan University, 2005 – 2007
Poetry Editor
Third Coast, Western Michigan University, 2006 – 2008
PUBLIC READINGS
- Wor-Wic Community College, Salisbury, MD, 2023
- My Dead Aunt’s Bookstore, Hyattsville, MD 2023
- WMU Alumni Reading, Seattle, WA 2023
- Poets During the Pandemic, virtual, 2021
- Hood College, Washington Writers’ Publishing House Prize Winners, 2019
- Politics and Prose Bookstore, Washington D.C., 2019
- The Writer’s Center, Bethesda, MD, 2019
- Curious Iguana Bookstore, Frederick, MD, 2019
- Poetry Society of America 108th Annual Awards Ceremony, New York, NY, 2018
- Hey You Come Back Reading Series, Baltimore, MD, 2017
- Up North Poetry Series, Gettysburg, PA, 2017
- Hood College Poetry Reading with Aaron Angello and David Salner, Frederick, MD, 2016
- The Catoctin Voices Evening of Poetry, Thurmont, MD, 2016
- The Gwen Frostic Reading Series, Western Michigan University, 2011
- Meacham Writers’ Workshop, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 2008
- RHINO 2007, Portage Public Library, Portage, MI, 2007