I’m a poet, teaching artist, and creative mentor based in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. In 2012 I left academia and now I run Poetry Forge, a community-based incubator for writers and their work where the generation of new poems is matched with ongoing, rigorous conversations about creative practice and craft. I also teach writing and creative courses for Interlochen College of Creative Arts and other arts organizations, and I offer writing instruction and apprenticeship experiences to private students and small groups via in person, online, and one-on-one mentorship opportunities.

At the heart, I’m interested in helping others engage their art and thrive amidst the many social, technological, and existential pressures of our time.

I’ve received numerous awards, residencies and fellowships, as well as two Pushcart nominations for my writing. I’ve published widely as an independent journalist, book reviewer, essayist, and poet in places like The New York Times, The Nation, The Ecologist, Michigan Quarterly Review, Witness, Talking River, Alternet, Z Magazine, Corpwatch.org, and Foreword Magazine. I’ve published two chapbooks, The Grass Impossibly (Michigan Writers Cooperative Press, 2008), selected by Fleda Brown for that year’s poetry prize, and Pilgrim (Alice Greene & Co., 2014). I contributed to the book We Are Everywhere: The Irresistible Rise of Global Anti-Capitalism (Verso, 2003), The Michigan Poet: 2005-2010, and other anthologies. I studied creative writing at Trinity College, Ireland (M.Phil), University of Michigan (BA), and at Interlochen Arts Academy.

I also collaborate regularly with other artists. This 90 second video is a glimpse of an ongoing installation called Urban Renga, where we project poetry in public places. It was shot in Brooklyn in August 2015.

You can hear me talk about finding meaning and purpose through vocation in this podcast from FULFILLAMENT, a live storytelling event in Traverse City, MI.