Wherein writing is like jumping rope

When I was a kid, I was a sucker for accumulative-challenge fundraisers like Jump Rope for Heart, and my mother walked beside me through Cumberland while I jumped and skipped and stumbled over uneven brick sidewalks for a nickel or a dime for each thwack-skip of the rope.

This is not that.

But I have volunteered to wrangle with some lines, writing and posting a poem a day in March in support of Tupelo press, which has a mission "to promote contemporary poetry and literary prose by emerging and established writers of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, including, especially, women and writers of color, as well as the LGBTQ+, immigrant, and Native American communities. We aim to develop wider audiences for, and deeper understanding of, innovative, multi-cultural writing by essential participants in this conversation. At the same time, we undertake to enhance the reading experience itself by publishing and distributing gorgeously designed and produced books."

I'm sure there will be some stumbles and uneven bits, but I'm doing what I can to say /yes/ to projects that interest me. If you've stuck around this long, thanks.

I hate to make an ask, but if you're interested in pitching in $10 (or more), I'll sweeten the deal by sending you a handmade chapbook in April with my appreciation. I don't know, yet, what the chap will be, but I've bought some lovely paper and have visions of making a few beautiful little objects.

Jennifer Browne falls in love easily with other people’s dogs. She is the author of American Crow (Beltway Editions, 2024) and the poetry chapbooks Before: After (Pure Sleeze Press, 2025), In a Period of Absence: a Lake (Origami Poems Project, 2025), whisper song (tiny wren publishing, 2023) and The Salt of the Geologic World (Bottlecap Press, 2023). Her work has recently appeared in Poets for Science, Humana Obscura, Trailer Park Quarterly, and One Sentence Poems. She lives in Frostburg, Maryland, where she serves as director of the Frostburg State University Center for Literary Arts.

Note: The banner image is Beverly&Pack's "Two cats, dressed as humans, holding rope, which doll appears to be skipping." via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Two_cats,_dressed_as_humans,_holding_rope,_which_doll_appears_to_be_skipping.jpg