My poems can make a difference!

Poet Bio: The mountains, snow, mud, the burst of spring and short vibrant summer, and the quick splash of fall foliage in rural Vermont make me keenly aware of place and my own body's relationship to each element in this place. That and tai chi, which is so much about moving mindfully with and among spaces and people. My second chapbook, The Space Between Us (Finishing Line Press, 2018), highlights these themes. The first, Poems for Tai Chi Players (Kattywompus Press, 2013) plays with tai chi in relation to language, teaching, age, nature, and more. Other poems have appeared in Light Journal, The Literary Nest, PoemTown (Randolph, VT), PoemCity (Montpelier, VT).

My life these days is taken up with teaching and practicing tai chi, writing, a big organic garden, community volunteerism, and spending time with family. Earlier, as a Prof. at Ohio State University-Marion, besides teaching literature and composition courses, I published books and articles about food and culture, including Recipes for Reading (U. Mass. P.), Reel Food (Routledge), and Introduction to African American Foodways. Some of my poems still reflect that interest—the growing, cooking, preserving, and sharing of food.

Your support gives me vital inspiration as I write for thirty days this month.

Tupelo Press provides the canvas, I bring my words, accompanied by other fine poets, writing thirty poems in thirty days, all ours to edit and submit as we wish. 30/30 poems have been taken by over 90 journals and featured in over 40 published chapbooks, all so Tupelo Press can keep publishing exquisite and diverse voices that might never be heard otherwise.

Every dollar gives me confidence to write more, and helps the press place more poems in gorgeous books. Help me to help this distinguished press. Give today!