So let me tell you...

A little about myself... I'm a disabled poet living in Pittsburgh, PA. I work my day job in my 2nd passion as a crackerjack librarian at Cooper-Siegel Community Library in Fox Chapel.

 

I received my BA in Creative Writing from Carlow University and have worked with the Madwomen in the Attic through the university since then, specifically with Jan Beatty Emily Mohn-Slate, and Joy Katz. I received my Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from The University of Notre Dame and a Master of Library and Information Science from The University of Pittsburgh. I had the pleasure of a month-long residency at Vermont Studio Center in 2003 where I spent beautiful long days deep in my work. But, soon after that I took an extended break from writing; something didn't feel right. So, to save it, I packed it up for 12 years.

 

I returned to writing, after a sudden separation from my first husband; as Lisel Mueller said, in her poem, When I Am Asked: "I placed my grief in the mouth of language, the only thing that would grieve with me." I've been back at it for the last 12 years. My chapbook, Undress, (part of a larger collection of poems about my marriage and divorce) was the recipient of the 2023 Lefty Blondie Press Chapbook Award. My work appears in Four Way Review, Kestral, Rogue Agent, The Gulf Tower Forecasts Rain: A Pittsburgh Poetry Anthology (published by City of Asylum), Kaliope, and Pittsburgh City Paper, and is a twice Pushcart Prize nominee.

 

I've had great success in other publications and readings in Western Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. I am currently looking to publish The Tender Heart Club, my first book. I've been writing as a mad-proud member of the Madwomen in the Attic Writing Workshops since 1992.