The New Quarterly awarded me first prize in the 2016 Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest for my poem, “Wedding Anniversary,” which is published in Issue #140: In Appreciation of Our Spots. Now, a conversation I had with the wonderfully kind and intelligent Kim Jernigan of The New Quarterly is published on the magazine’s website: Memory, Desire, and the Aural Imagination.

I encourage you to read the entire interview; it’s some of the most fun I’ve ever had discussing the role of poetry in my life and talking through my writing process. It is so incredibly rewarding (and encouraging! and helpful!) to engage in conversations with other folk who are passionate about poetry. Kim was kind enough to engage me in questions about how oral performance and poetry intersect for me as a writer and an educator, and she also prompted a few admissions about my (nerdy) childhood, my writing process, the occasional poem, and my incurable romanticism.

My thanks to Kim Jernigan, Barb Carter, and everyone at The New Quarterly who have been so incredibly supportive of me and my work. My experience with the Occasional Verse contest has been an invaluable boost to my career right now and my confidence in my current project. Speaking of which–off I go!