About

My poems have appeared or are about to appear in many journals including SWWIM, Nixes Mate, Gargoyle, Rogue Agent, Book of Matches, LUMINA Literary Journal, Comstock Review, Driftwood Press, Loch Raven Review, and Stoneboat Literary Journal. My prose poem, “Beach at St. Mary’s,” is included in the book of images and text, Our Provincetown: Intimate Portraits by Barbara E. Cohen (Provincetown Arts Press, 2021). Sleeping in the Dead Girl’s Room is my first poetry collection. The poems engage with memories, most from decades ago. It took years for these poems to find each other and coalesce into a book.

In addition to relishing the time I spend alone writing poems, I also love working with people to build, create, and bring about change. I was active in the student anti-Vietnam War movement and the Sanctuary City movement. I’ve organized around immigrant rights, women’s rights, and struggles for racial, economic, and housing justice. I taught video and photography skills to teens in Somerville, MA while teaching myself how to raise money to keep this work afloat. This led to a career in philanthropy, raising funds for and consulting with arts, social justice, and workers’ rights organizations, among others. For a dozen years, I served on the Board of Directors of Resist, a foundation that supports people’s movements for justice and liberation by redistributing resources back to frontline communities at the forefront of change.

As managing editor of Pangyrus LitMag for four years before transitioning to associate poetry editor in June of 2021, I was fortunate to become part of a vibrant literary community. I love collaborating with other editors, writers, and visual artists to produce and promote work that inspires and sometimes incites.

THE PERSONAL

Sleeping in the Dead Girl’s Room is pretty personal. But here are some other kinds of personal: I live with my partner, cartoonist Nick Thorkelson in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Our daughter, artist and activist Ruby T , contributed the cover image for the book. She currently lives with her partner in Provincetown. Our long-lived beloved beagle mix, Betsy, has passed and we aren’t sure about getting another dog.

WHY I WRITE

I have always been one who writes. Who figures out what she thinks, feels, knows and doesn’t know by putting pen to paper. The poems in Sleeping in the Dead Girl’s Room are a testament to that. I hope they speak to you.