I am so pleased to share that my dear old poem, "Leaving the Party," has just been published in the Spring 2019 issue of Alluvian! The issue theme is "The Grey Zone: Human and Ecological Triage."
We danced like satellites, I think, last night,
spinning, the Christmas lights in our glasses,
our bottles. (read poem)
This poem had its genesis way back in my undergrad days in the Valparaiso University English Department, and although time has made these things fuzzy I am quite sure it benefited from the creative writing workshops of two of my most important writing mentors, Allison Schuette at Valpo and Debra Marquart at Iowa State University in the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Environment. It has changed a lot, especially the beginning and end, while the middle has stayed interestingly solid, I think, which when you read the poem may seem appropriate—it orbits around the central moments of greatest instability and movement. I was very interested at this time in the concept of impermanence, an obvious and major element of life that seems to come as a sort of revelation in college.
I hope you enjoy the poem and let me know what you think! Again, you can access the full issue, including my poem, here.