I started writing with the goal of publication in early 2020. Although I took a memoir course at the New York Writers Workshop in late 2019, health issues and chronic pain made long stints at the computer difficult. Often, I couldn’t spend enough time at a computer to get full essays and non-fiction pieces written. Poetry, however, I could write on my cell phone, even while lying in bed. Thus, I began writing and publishing poetry.
Then, I began experimenting with found poetry. I cut out words from magazines and junk mailings. I’d assemble the phrases into poems and arrange them, using old dive photographs as backgrounds. These mixed media found poems combined my loves of diving, photography, and poetry. Eventually, they too, were accepted for publishing.
The following are my writing and artwork publications and links to where they may be found:
“Beyond Walls” — poem can be found in the little book “Put into Words, My Love,” A Petite Pomme, published by Pomme Journal. It was released in January 2020, and is available on Amazon.
“Rough Spring” — poem published in What Rough Beast: Coronavirus Edition, published by Indolent Books. Released May 24, 2020. Read “Rough Spring.”
3 Micro Poems (originally titled “Not A Mouse,” “No Words,” and “Empty?“) — poems published in 140Max Magazine. Published July 2020. Read here.
“Grief in the Time of Cancer COVID” and “Grandma’s Stories” — two poems published in The Silent World in Her Vase, as part of Parent’s Day Issue. July 2020. Read “Grief in the Time of Cancer COVID” and “Grandma’s Stories.”
“When the Sky Fell,” “I Used to Dream #19,” and “Haiku on Air Quality and Equality” — three poems in DoveTales, A Literary Journal of the Arts: Resistance, published by Writing for Peace. August 2020. Read the poems online here. Print copies of the beautiful book are available here.
“When Water Drips” — poem in “Sunkissed Poetry Book” published by Wingless Dreamer. August 2020. The book is available through Amazon.
“dry eyed, but” — poem published by Sad Girl’s Club Literary Blog. August 2020. Read “dry eyed, but.”
“Surrender” — poem published by Sad Girl’s Club Literary Blog. September 2020. Read “Surrender.”
“Anxiety Fest” and “Cliff Walker” — poems published by The Silent World in Her Vase, as part of their Mental Health issue. September 2020. Read “Anxiety Fest” and Cliff Walker.“
“When the Sky Fell” — poem republished by The Ice Colony, September 2020. Read “When The Sky Fell” on the Ice Colony website here.
“Sky Above, Ground Below, And All That is Between” — poem published by The Closed Eye Open, in Maya’s Micros Batch 006 on 10th of October, 2020. Read it here.
“on creating what’s good,” “Simply Fall,” “How it Works,” “paradigm shift,” and “Transform the Way You Think” — found poetry on repurposed dive art published by Rigorous Magazine. Cover Artist for Vol. 4, Issue 4. See issue of Rigorous here. See “on creating what’s good,” “Simply Fall,” “How it Works,” “paradigm shift,” and “Transform the Way You Think.”
“Firestorm” — poem published by From Whispers to Roars on 11 December 2020. Read “Firestorm.” It’s the last poem in the issue!
“Road to Change” — found word poem on repurposed dive art published on 14 December 2020 by Tempered Runes Press in the Winter 2020 Issue of Bluing the Blade. Download the pdf or order a copy of Bluing the Blade: Vol.1, No.1 here to see my mixed media piece. My contributor bio can be found on the Tempered Runes website here.
“A Mohawk and a Heart” — my first nonfiction piece, was published by an organization called Awakenings. Based out of Chicago, this group helps assist survivors of sexual assault and violence to heal through art and literature. Their literary branch, Awakened Voices, runs a blog called the Nightingale, and published my piece on 4 February 2021. Read “A Mohawk and a Heart.”
“Anything is Possible” and “You Planned on Revolution” — found poetry on repurposed dive art published in Star 82 Review, Issue 9.1, March 2021. See the entire issue here and read “Anything is Possible” and “You Planned on Revolution.”
Although this is not a publication, I submitted a chapbook to Foundlings Press for their 2021 Wallace Chapbook Award Competition. Although I did not win, I was one of their 5 finalists! Thank you to them for considering and enjoying my as-yet-unpublished chapbook of found poetry! The finalists and winner can be seen listed here!
“Panic Master” – my second nonfiction piece was published by 21st Century Text, a publication from Israel, which allows authors the opportunity to work with student editors to improve their pieces before publication. They also used a couple of my photos, including one taken by Daniel Gomez, one of my fellow Dive Master course graduates! I enjoyed the opportunity greatly, and feel the editors helped me streamline this piece! You can see 21st Century Text Vol. X: Challenge Change Resilience here, and read Panic Master. June 2021.
“a barefoot child,” “discovering your insignificance,” and “It is No Secret” – found poetry on repurposed dive art, published by Thimble Literary Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 1, Summer 2021. The issue from July 2021 can be found online here. See “a barefoot child,” “discovering your insignificance,” and “It is No Secret.””
“Dolphin Interrogation” is my 3rd published nonfiction essay, which was published by The Kelp Journal in Issue No. 5, released in July 2021. The Kelp Journal is a surf and ocean themed journal based out of California and their Summer 2021 issue can be found here. Read “Dolphin Interrogation.” UPDATE: September 2022, Kelp Journal has nominated this piece for a Best of the Net Award, an honor I am truly humbled to have been given.
“What If” is a found poem on repurposed dive photography, published by High Shelf Press, Issue XXXIII, 15 August, 2021. Issue XXXIII of High Shelf Press can be found here. “What If” is on page 34.
“When Water Drips” — This poem was republished by Brick Street Poetry, Inc. in their poetry anthology, Reflections on Little Eagle Creek, 3 September 2021. Although it was a limited print run, and is out of print on their website, it may be available on Amazon here.
“Gender-Bending Creatures” — poem published by iō Literary Journal, Volume 3, released 19 September, 2021. Volume 3 is available for purchase here. While I’m not sure that this poem is available online, iō Literary Journal’s website is here.
“Some Days I Try” — pubished by PCC Inscape, a literary magazine from the Pasadena City College in Pasadena, CA. The poem is in Volume 77, Issue 1, Spring 2021. This magazine had some problems with the pandemic getting the issue published. As a result, the issue was released late. The poem is titled “Somedays I Try” in the magazine, and the format is different from the way I wrote it. In its original form, the shape of the words of the poem made an “X”. PCC Inscape’s website is here, but I do not believe the issue is accessible.
“Impermanence and Flux (Istanbul)” and “A River Stilled (Malta)” — two new found poems on travel photography. This is a new series of found poetry that I started recently. The photos were taken on my various travels and contain lights/lampposts/lanterns (which I’ve always hoped might lead me to Narnia)! I’m thrilled to have these poems appear in Star 82 Review, Issue 9.4, released 21 December 2021. I had work appear in issue 9.1, and am so pleased to work with editor Alisa Golden again. The entire issue can be found here and you can read “Impermanence and Flux (Istanbul)” and “A River Stilled (Malta).”
“An Acrobat Teeters (Athens)” and “No Guarantee (Istanbul)” — two found poems on travel photography published by Wild Roof Journal, a publication I’ve long admired. Both of these poems are part of my lamppost/lantern found poetry series. They were published in Wild Roof Journal Issue 15, July 2022, which can be found in its entirety here to read or purchase as a pdf and you can see both “An Acrobat Teeters (Athens)” and “No Guarantee (Istanbul)” there.
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