Tell us the story of publishing AND LUCKIER.
For me, making a book is a slow process of distillation and experimentation. I had been working on a collection for a couple of years when Katerina suggested in 2019 that I submit something to Accents. So the inkling of a new book had been hovering. Katerina’s interest in looking at a collection of my poems opened the way for me to sharpen and focus what coalesced into And Luckier. Without her being there to receive this book, I might have gone on tinkering with the collection for another year. As a matter of fact, when I published Almanac of the Invisible in 2014, I already had begun to gather poems for the next book, and I had written the title poem. I revise individual poems over the course of many years. As I write new poems, my sense of each collection sharpens and refines itself. It is not an efficient process, but one I have come to love and to give myself over to.
What do you like most about it?
More than my earlier collections, And Luckier balances personal poetry with poems that engage world events. Though the poems were written before the pandemic, many of them still feel timely. Katerina’s books (her own poetry) inspire me to push boundaries, and her gentle presence as editor encouraged me to experiment. Another thing I loved about working with Katerina was that despite the fact the And Luckier came out in March, 2020, as the world was closing down, she stayed upbeat and inventive, making sure that the poems were heard widely on YouTube, the radio, and via Zoom.
What did you have to overcome to finish and publish a book?
By the time I published And Luckier I had a certain amount of faith in my own process. I had learned to believe that the book would find its shape and its place in the world eventually. However, I had to overcome the frustration of working through many drafts over several years and wanting it not to take so long between books. As I look back on those drafts now, I see that I was rushing the collection. Many of the best poems in the book were written in 2018-19. The 2017 version would have been a different book, and not as strong as the book Accents published.
What do you hope people learn/experience from reading your book?
I always hope to present readers with a range of poetic forms and a variety of ways to encounter experience, including humor and playfulness. I do not hold onto expectations for what any reader might learn from my poetry. Instead, I think in terms of giving readers a chance to be surprised or delighted or moved to look at something a little differently. These are the things I hope for when I read poetry.
What was your favorite interaction with a reader and/or fan?
Some readers have written to tell me they are grateful for my poem, “No Fear”—particularly for its realization that it’s “impossible to separate/misery and joy—the living edge of mystery.” That line, that understanding arrived with the poem itself. It was what the poem had come to teach me, and I will always be grateful for its arrival.
What are you working on now? Catch us up on one significant event in your life since the publication of AND LUCKIER.
I don’t really think of myself as a prolific writer, but I am always writing and nearly always imagining how new poems might fit together. Each time a book comes out, I will already have the start of another collection in process. I am usually working on two or three things at once. Right now I am in different stages of working on two poetry collections, as well as writing occasional essays and doing research for another project. In the past year I have had essays accepted for two anthologies, and the year before I published a long scholarly essay.
In July, 2025, I signed a contract with Madville Publishing for a new collection, entitled Interior with Poplar. The first week January, 2026, we finished final edits. The book is slated for release in September, 2026. It is my fifth full-length collection of poems.
