Latest On Writing ·
Why Silence Still Matters
An August 2026 reflection on "August Essay: Why Silence Still Matters", tied to "Someday, I Hope to Forget" and written as a personal record of what I was living and feeling.
Read the EntryRustic Embers
I write what refuses silence
More Entries
· On Writing
Light Through the Cracks
A May 2026 reflection on "May Draft Notes: Light Through the Cracks", tied to "Why Love Feels Like a Penitence" and written as a personal record of what I was living and feeling.
Paired Poem
Why Love Feels Like a Penitence
· On Writing
On Distraction and Staying Anyway
April 2026 became a month of return: same desk, same town, cleaner attention, and the kind of focus that gets rebuilt through repetition rather than force.
Paired Poem
Light from the Shadows
· On Writing
What I'm Working On
March 2026 stayed rooted in Santa Fe: early pages, medical follow-through, slower revision, and a steadier writing life than the season looked like from the outside.
Paired Poem
The Quiet Spark Within
· On Writing
On Finishing Things and Letting Them Go
There is a particular anxiety that happens when a poem is nearly done. Not when it's a mess — that's a different anxiety. This is the finishing anxiety: the fear that the last revision will be the wrong one.
Paired Poem
Resilience's Gem
· On Writing
Be the Light: The Poem's Actual Origin
I was at a low point when I wrote this poem. I won't be dramatic about it — but I was in it, and I couldn't quite see out. So I wrote about light.
Paired Poem
Quilt of Life
· On Writing
Why I Rarely Keep the First Draft
I draft digitally and revise hard. Most poems take multiple passes before they feel honest enough to keep.
Paired Poem
Whisper of Cascading Waters
· On Writing
On Revision: Killing What You Love
There is a line in my original draft that I was certain was the best line I'd ever written. It was doing four things at once. It was also completely wrong for the poem.
Paired Poem
Albatross
· On Writing
How I Decided on the Image for "My Love Had a Name"
Here is something I don't often talk about: the image for a poem usually comes before the poem is finished. Not always, but often.
Paired Poem
My Love Had a Name