Welcome to this gallery of poetry and prose!
I am a writer, teacher, and member of the lively community of artists and writers in North Carolina, where I was born and raised, and, after years away, re-settled.
My first story, which made me famous for a day in Mrs. Craven's 3rd grade classroom, was the tale of "Henry Buffalo," a man so strong he could blow continents apart and reshape mountains into valleys.
My latest work follows another hero, my father, who fought across Europe in 1944-45, from Omaha Beach in France to the Elbe River in Germany, to help bring peace to the world. Back home, he was gentle enough to grow azaleas from sprouts and sing his children to sleep at night. You can read some of his story--and my own journey with my brother and sister to retrace the steps of his war journey and relive the years of his life--in essays under Omaha to Elbe.
On this site, you'll also read about men and women behind the machines of a textile factory in Piece Work, telling of their jobs, their worry, their dreams, and their fears. In Blue Star, sample poems about soldiers on the front lines for the first time, and check New Writing for stories about Southerners in a Nor'easter and other recent work.
Throughout these pages, you'll find tales of the ordinary becoming the extraordinary, the unknown and unimportant becoming the hero, the wren becoming the eagle, women, men, and children--all of us--doing our best to make meaning in a complicated, difficult, beautiful world.
I am a writer, teacher, and member of the lively community of artists and writers in North Carolina, where I was born and raised, and, after years away, re-settled.
My first story, which made me famous for a day in Mrs. Craven's 3rd grade classroom, was the tale of "Henry Buffalo," a man so strong he could blow continents apart and reshape mountains into valleys.
My latest work follows another hero, my father, who fought across Europe in 1944-45, from Omaha Beach in France to the Elbe River in Germany, to help bring peace to the world. Back home, he was gentle enough to grow azaleas from sprouts and sing his children to sleep at night. You can read some of his story--and my own journey with my brother and sister to retrace the steps of his war journey and relive the years of his life--in essays under Omaha to Elbe.
On this site, you'll also read about men and women behind the machines of a textile factory in Piece Work, telling of their jobs, their worry, their dreams, and their fears. In Blue Star, sample poems about soldiers on the front lines for the first time, and check New Writing for stories about Southerners in a Nor'easter and other recent work.
Throughout these pages, you'll find tales of the ordinary becoming the extraordinary, the unknown and unimportant becoming the hero, the wren becoming the eagle, women, men, and children--all of us--doing our best to make meaning in a complicated, difficult, beautiful world.
Residencies and Awards:
Wildacres Residency, 2019
Hambidge Center, 2017
Studium, A Visiting Scholar’s Program, Saint Benedict’s Monastery, 2016
Willapa Bay Residency Fellowship, 2016
Nazim Hikmet Poetry Prize, 2016
NC Arts Council Regional Artist Grant, 2013-14
NC Arts Council Artist Fellowship in Writing, 2001-02, 2007-08
Cleveland State University Poetry Center First Book Prize, 2006
Linda Flowers Prize, NC Humanities Council, 2004
Oscar Arnold Young Award, Poetry Council of NC, 1999
Zoe Kincaid Brockman Award, NC Poetry Society, 1995
Books, Plays, Anthologies:
You Are the River, Ed. Helena Feder (NC Museum of Art, 2021)
Crossing the Rift: NC Poets on 9/11 and Its Aftermath, Eds. Joseph Bathanti and David Potorti (Press 53, 2021)
Company K: From Asheboro to the Fields of France (play), Rhinoleap Productions, 2018, 2019
Blue Star (Press 53, 2016)
Piece Work (play), Touring Theatre of North Carolina, 2010-2011
Piece Work (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2007)
Sherry's Prayer (NC Humanities Council as part of NC Crossroads, 2004)
Los Hijos (Longleaf Press, 2002)
Unravelings (Longleaf Press, 1998)
Snake Dreams (Nightshade Press, 1994)
Education:
B.A. in English (UNC-Greensboro)
M.F.A. in Creative Writing (UNC-Greensboro)
M.A. in English, Southern American Literature (University of Kentucky)
Wildacres Residency, 2019
Hambidge Center, 2017
Studium, A Visiting Scholar’s Program, Saint Benedict’s Monastery, 2016
Willapa Bay Residency Fellowship, 2016
Nazim Hikmet Poetry Prize, 2016
NC Arts Council Regional Artist Grant, 2013-14
NC Arts Council Artist Fellowship in Writing, 2001-02, 2007-08
Cleveland State University Poetry Center First Book Prize, 2006
Linda Flowers Prize, NC Humanities Council, 2004
Oscar Arnold Young Award, Poetry Council of NC, 1999
Zoe Kincaid Brockman Award, NC Poetry Society, 1995
Books, Plays, Anthologies:
You Are the River, Ed. Helena Feder (NC Museum of Art, 2021)
Crossing the Rift: NC Poets on 9/11 and Its Aftermath, Eds. Joseph Bathanti and David Potorti (Press 53, 2021)
Company K: From Asheboro to the Fields of France (play), Rhinoleap Productions, 2018, 2019
Blue Star (Press 53, 2016)
Piece Work (play), Touring Theatre of North Carolina, 2010-2011
Piece Work (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2007)
Sherry's Prayer (NC Humanities Council as part of NC Crossroads, 2004)
Los Hijos (Longleaf Press, 2002)
Unravelings (Longleaf Press, 1998)
Snake Dreams (Nightshade Press, 1994)
Education:
B.A. in English (UNC-Greensboro)
M.F.A. in Creative Writing (UNC-Greensboro)
M.A. in English, Southern American Literature (University of Kentucky)