Update

Pushcart Nomination from Pangyrus Literary Mag

I’m happy to announce that my poem "what i learned during Black history month" by billy, age 8 (or 18) was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Pangyrus . You can read it below.

Collections forthcoming in 2023

I’ve been reminded how terrible I am at sharing news. So here’s an attempt to rectify that.

I have two collections forthcoming in 2023


The Third Renunciation - a full length collection from New York Quarterly Books (Spring 2023)

and

said the Frog to the scorpion - a chapbook from Harbor Editions (Winter 2023)!

More info to come about both in the coming months.

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the Colored page in The Weston Owl

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A write up about

Upcoming Events
Promises to Keep BOOK LAUNCH!!
Apr 23
Promises to Keep BOOK LAUNCH!!

Booking MEH for readings and such!

My Events and Services page is now live!

See where I will be in the world (in-person and virtually) and whether I can be useful to your community.

I am available for in-person and virtual readings, workshops, and professional developments for all age-groups. I’ve made appearances in elementary, middle, and high schools, at colleges/universities, in community centers and churches, as well as at national/international conferences.

Selected for Kenyon Review's 2022 Writers Retreat


The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers partnered with the Kenyon Review to offer a summer writing experience for educators participating in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards! Educators with a student who received regional recognition in the 2022 Awards were eligible to apply for tuition coverage to attend an online, six-day workshop series to hone their writing and teaching practices with the Kenyon Review. They also received a $200 stipend to support their writing.

I'm one of those educators! More about that here.

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Presenting and Reading at The Five Ponds Creative Writing Festival

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I will be presenting at workshop at the Five Ponds Creative Writing Festival.

Translating Trauma

Writers often sift through personal and global pain using it as inspiration for composition. This can be done as a means of processing and coping with trauma, as well as a means of making connections with others. But are there stories we should keep to ourselves? Are we sometimes telling stories that are not ours to tell? When is writing an unhealthy act of reliving trauma instead of remembering it in a creative, healing context? Through the lens of poetry, this workshop—part craft lecture, part unlicensed therapy session—will consider these questions, and provide participants with tools to construct personal guidelines to best care for themselves and others during the writing process.

It will be live and livestreamed. The whole festival is free. More details here.

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"Award Winning Poet Matthew E. Henry Reads for Gordon College"

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"Award Winning Poet Matthew E. Henry Reads for Gordon College"

Last fall, three-time Pushcart nominated poet Matthew E. Henry performed a poetry reading in the Barrington Cinema as a part of the Princemere Writers Series. Led by English Professor Mark Stevick, the Series invites renowned and emerging writers to Gordon College to share their art and engage with Creative Writing students. Henry also visited with Stevick’s Literary Journal class to discuss writing, editing, publishing, and teaching…[Click for full article]

"some students give apples" Nominated for a Pushcart Prize

Confession time.

I was seeing writers I LOVE being nominated for Pushcarts and Best of the Nets all over the place, and feeling VERY PROUD/HAPPY for them, but also a little sad that it wasn’t me.

I also recognized feeling surprise that it wasn’t me, which was very unusual, until I realized that I’ve been nominated for a Pushcart or BoTN (or both) every year since 2018.

After some soul-searching and smacking of self, I remembered I’m not owed a damn thing. That I will lean into my joy for others. That I write for me, regardless of whether anyone else notices.

And then I got an email from Relief Journal saying my poem “some students give apples” was nominated for a Pushcart. All the above remains true, but the recognition is still nice.

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Sonnet wins The Fare Forward Poetry Competition

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I am thrilled to announce that one of my theological sonnets—[Say Jonah was right and grace is wasted]—was the winner of The Fare Forward Poetry Competition!

In addition to publication in the next issue of Fare Forward, there was a cash prize, and bragging rights.

A special thanks to the journals who rejected this poem as not being good enough.

You can read it here