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DripTorch Reading Series

Huge thanks to Jason Teal, managing editor at Heavy Feather Review, for inviting me to read alongside Jordan Stempleman and Maddie Pospisil. It was a great reading and the drive to Manhattan, Kansas was so beautiful and dreamy. Photos: Jason Teal

After listening to Negro Swan by Blood Orange

Virtual Poetry Fair

Got to read some new poems at Lawrence’s annual Poetry Fair!

Introducing Snarl

Excited to announce that I will be serving as the Poetry Editor of Snarl: A Journal of Literature and Art. Created by Chloe Seim earlier this year, the Snarl team features Connie Fiorella, Nicolas Shump, Mercedes Lucero (me!), and Chloe Seim. See our general submission guidelines below or check out the website for more info!

We seek submissions of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and art from those of marginalized identities who live or have lived in the Lawrence/Greater Kansas City Area. If you are unsure if you meet these requirements, check out our FAQ page. Simultaneous submissions are encouraged, but please let us know as soon as your work is accepted elsewhere. Please find specific guidelines for each genre below. For each category, there are free and tip jar options. It is not necessary to submit a tip jar submission, and whether a submission is paid or free will NOT influence our decision to decline or accept a work. Tip Jar submissions help us to offset production costs and pay our contributors. Thank you!

Zinn Writer in Residency Wraps Up...

My Zinn Writer in Residency at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School wrapped up a few days ago. For our final visit, Alex Kimball Williams and I met with students of color to talk about self-love, identity, healing, and creating space for ourselves.I'm grateful to have had the chance to work with all of the 180 seventh graders over the past few months and to watch them discover the possibilities of poetry. This is only a small sample of all the cool stuff we did. Several students were able to perform (many for the very first time) at the 6th Annual Poetry Fair held in Lawrence, KS. Young people have a lot to say and I am humbled to have been a part of facilitating a NECESSARY space for their voices.Our final collaborative chapbook with the students' poems is available through the Lawrence Arts Center for $10. All proceeds go directly to keeping programs like this in Lawrence,KS public schools.So many people helped make this happen...from teachers to parents to local organizers & local organizations. Forever thankful 🖤

Very excited to announce that I have a new video poem forthcoming in The Continental Review. "I Am Ready to Quilt Myself Into Myself" is a visual and poetic meditation on the links between quilting, identity, and discovery. This is such a cool digital space and I'll be joining some really amazing works by writers like Kaveh Akbar, Simone Savannah, Jim McCrary, Candice Wuehle, Marty Cain and more!

Celebrating Black History Month

I'm late to posting, but BLACK Lawrence gathered for music, poetry, and more during Black History Month & it was awesome! I obviously do not follow directions since I seem to be the only one not looking at the camera. BLACK Lawrence stands for: Black Literature & Arts Collective of Kansas, Lawrence BLACK Lawrence believes in the celebration of black creative expression as a vehicle for artist & community growth. We seek to elevate the dialogue around the meaning of being a black artist & creating black art. We are artists of various mediums, including visual art, music, poetry & more! Each of our members comes as they are to inspire & support each other. Through workshops & showcases, it is our mission to assist black artists in networking with one another & the community, as well as to transform spaces to become inclusive of black people.

Femme Fest Success

Check out I Heart Local Musics's photo gallery featuring performances from Femme Fest 2019 in Lawrence, KS. I shared the stage with local musicians, read new poems, kept my coat on the entire time, and if you really want to know, it all went very well.

New Essay Forthcoming from New Ohio Review

How to make text do what the quilt does: weave, fold, story, warm. or Find a way to sew generation into syntax These are just notes for a larger project. A very small piece (square?) of that project, "An Oral History of Hands as Told to Me by My Grandmother," has found a home at New Ohio Review. Excited to share this soon.

New Photo Featured in HCR Review

L.A. Wheeler in the Window is a black and white digital photograph I took earlier this year. What I love about this photo is that it isn't easily distinguishable regarding whether the subject is looking toward the window or away from it. For me, it signifies duality. It will be featured in the forthcoming issue of HCE Review, a quarterly online literary journal at University College Dublin.

Sandy Crimmins National Poetry Finalist

Honored to announce that my poem, "I wonder why they never taught us about Sylvia Mendez" was a Top 60 finalist among over 400 entries. Though it was not selected, it still feels amazing to have a poem come so close! I'll be waiting to see the winning poem announced, which will no doubt be electrifying. You can check out the contest, as well as Philadelphia Stories, here.

Femme Fest Lineup Announced

New Visual Art Forthcoming

I am Ready to Quilt Myself into Myself is a series that began with a writing project titled ThreadSpeak, which centers around nearly twenty years of diary entries. Part of this project is an attempt to speak back to my own words and thread these selves together.

An obsolete definition of the verb “to quilt” is “to join together passages of text.” Becoming my own quiltmaker meant thinking about what it would mean for a text to perform this process. I'm so excited to share this series, which will be featured very soon up at The Roanoke Review.

Young Author’s Camp

The Lawrence Public Library is at it again with a ton of great events for young people. I'll be hosting an Experimental Writing workshop with Pete Fey and Dave Snyder this December 5, from 4-5 pm. You can register your kiddos here.

New Flash in Jellyfish Review

Very happy to announce that I'll have a new flash fiction piece forthcoming in Jellyfish Review titled "Model Survivors." This is a dream publication for me, and if you don't have JR on your radar, do yourself a favor and check out Kathy Fish's "Collective Nouns for Humans Caught in the Wild." It's important.

Big Tent Reading Series

Such a joy reading last Thursday for the annual curator edition of the Big Tent Reading Series at the Raven Bookstore. It's one of my favorite events because I get to read alongside some pretty amazing local writers. Plus, it's a tradition to share new work, which is the best kind of exciting. Featured readers included Kelly Barth, Danny Caine, Andrew Farkas, Denise Low, and me :)

The Closest Thing I’ll Ever Get to Being in a Band...

I read some poems from my newest book at the Myers Hotel Revue with musical accompaniment from some really talented musicians. It's the closest I'll ever get to being in a band. It was also one of the best experiences I've ever had. Huge thanks to Heidi Gluck and everyone I shared the stage with. What a special night!

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