When you were five
and so small you were
almost lost in your own jacket—
a bundle of bones
and two eyes so blue
they drowned out the summer sky—
you would recoil
from every loud noise on
the nearby street,
Poetry: Linear Degradation
I left for work this morning
but never came home.
The man they sent in my place was older,
weaker. He had a scar across his left
cheek and gray splotches in his hair.
Voice: It’s not just a TV show featuring that one tattooed dude
As one of the many residents of “Writer Twitter”, I participate in a fair number of writer-centric hashtag games. Some are great ways to introduce yourself to fellow authors, some provide an opportunity to dig into what makes your manuscript work (or not work), and others are just there for silly fun. Last week, #TheMerryWriter…
Poetry: Fever Dream, Part 2
Last night, I dreamed
that you were tossing back highballs
from a martini glass,
and when I pointed this out,
you slapped me,
and said everyone was doing it.
303 Days to the Apocalypse – A Traditional Publishing Rejection Timeline
Hello everyone, and welcome to (the last day of) April! I had plans (big plans!) to share a post today about character and finding your voice, but those plans were scuttled by the arrival of a long-awaited email from the agent I’d been talking with about See These Bones.
Long story short: she decided not to offer representation.
Instead of spending this post weeping into my (non-existent) beard, I wanted to share a timeline of the experience, from initial contact to ultimate rejection.
Poetry: The End of Sheep
When I struggle to fall asleep,
I’ll count white hairs instead of sheep,
as there are more of them each day.
(How many more? I cannot say,
for when my counting climbs past ten…
March Madness
As 2019 seems to be the year of epiphanies, here’s my latest: moving is a pain in the ass and unconducive to productivity.
One very mad month later, we’ve fully moved in to our new house, if you ignore the small piles of boxes in certain rooms and the multiple-item-checklist of found issues that we’re still waiting for our builder to address. Despite the craziness of vendors/trades constantly dropping by unannounced, I feel incredibly fortunate to be in this beautiful new house.
The next step? Actually furnishing it. 😛
Poetry: What the Eyes Do Not See
What I see
is given form
by light,
refracting,
reflecting,
translating mass
into shape
and colors
and faces,
but in the darkness…
2019 Goals Check-in – February
I don’t want to blow anybody’s minds this early in the year, but I recently had an epiphany: February is a short month. Like… 1-3 days shorter, depending on the year and the month you’re comparing it to.
Crazy, right?
This particular February has felt even shorter, at least partly because I’ll be moving next week. In lieu of a stand-alone article, and given how quickly March is bearing down on us, I thought this would be a good time to check in on my 2019 writing goals.
Poetry: Words
My words begin to die
the moment I set them free,
tumbling from chapped lips like
broken acrobats;
the carpet is thick with their
skeletal remains…