Three mischievous monkeys perch on a roof in this large surrealistic scene. I love imagining their gossipy conversation, so of course I had to put a monkey poem in my collection, Secret Formulas & Techniques of the Masters. The poem, “Meroger’s…

Maroger’s Magic

I’ve spent years trying to read the stories behind this scene my mother painted. An older couple sits before a lavish feast. Their posture is stiff—unnaturally posed and primitively painted—with hands hidden below the table. Do they even have hands?…

Lobster for Lunch

What’s real? What’s deception? What is the sad-eyed woman trying to say? This playful Renaissance toys with classical motifs. The painting inspired early drafts of my poem, “Perspective Dreaming.” Originally published in the Fall 2014 issue of…

Perspective Dreaming

In a dramatic desert landscape, navel oranges form a whimsical pyramid on an African birthing stool. This painting by my mother, Louise Craven Hourrigan, loosely inspired one of the poems in my collection, Secret Formulas & Techniques of the Masters.…

Still Life With Oranges

For many years, this bright yet foreboding carnival scene hung in my childhood bedroom. My mother applied the paint with a palette knife, slashing black lines across the canvas. Drifting to sleep, I imagined the eerie echo of a calliope. One of the…

Carnival

This painting by my mother, Louise Craven Hourrigan, inspired my poem “Perspective Dreaming.” Originally published in the Fall 2014 issue of Water~Stone Review, the poem will be included in my book, Secret Formulas & Techniques of the Masters (Brick …

I’ve spent years trying to read the stories behind this scene my mother painted. An older couple sits before a lavish feast. Their posture is stiff—unnaturally posed and primitively painted—with hands hidden below the table. Do they even have hands? …

Jayne Marek’s In and Out of Rough Water is a moving and profound collection that transforms the wilderness into a meditation on the human condition. A western prairie morphs into dry pages of a newspaper, trees in winter describe a world where “naked …

Review: In and Out of Rough Water

Susan Terris says she selected “the most surprising poems I could find” for Spillway, volume 25. After seven years as editor, Terris is moving on, and the theme for this issue is, appropriately, “Hello & Goodbye.” The 165-page journal packs in some …

Hello & Goodbye at Spillway 25

This painting by my mother, Louise Craven Hourrigan, loosely inspired one of the poems in my forthcoming book, Secret Formulas & Techniques of the Masters (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2018). The poem, “Still Life With Oranges,” describes the process of …

As a child, I didn’t know what to make of my mother’s wild brush strokes. She didn’t title this painting, so the subject is a mystery. Still, I loved to stare into the flaming colors, and, like many of her paintings, this one inspired a poem in my …

Flight

How could I resist a poetry collection titled Lauren Bacall Shares a Limousine? Even the table of contents is a joy to read. Included are:
* “Pantoum for Mata Hari”
* “Lady Godiva Reminisces”
* “Before Her Round-the-World Flight Amelia Visits With a …

Review: Lauren Bacall Shares a Limousine

I’ve always enjoyed the minimalist precision of Kate McNairy’s poems, but something really special happens when twenty-six are arranged in a sequence. Each poem, marvelous in itself, takes on added wonder as it “speaks” to the other poems in the …

Review: Light to Light

…like a sun storm—
like an Olympic medal—like Pompeii—
like Pompeii before lava made love groan
beneath the weight of heat—
So begins a poem recently published in r.kv.r.y, a quarterly online literary journal that explores recovery from addictions …

The first sip flamed into another sip…

The day before the presidential inauguration, I learned that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey planned to fold their tents. No more traveling acrobats and animal acts. Where would the performers go? I envisioned a circus parading cross-country to …

Monkeys, Elephants & Clowns – Oh my!

Responses to the election continue to flood Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. I’m uplifted and inspired by the writing I find in my newsfeed. But, in the blink of an eye, words vanish below the fold. Posting on Facebook is fast, easy, and …

Publish Your Protests

Now in its 25th year, magazine is an exquisite, highly respected literary journal that publishes poetry, fiction, and reviews. The aesthetics are breathtaking. Issue 43 has poems from a wide range of writers, including Bosnia-born writer Vedran Husić …

Salamander 43 – WOW!

I was thrilled to have Salamander magazine accept one of my poems for an upcoming issue. But to have the editors nominate my poem to Pushcart Press? Wow!
Every year, small press editors submit their favorite poems, stories, and non-fiction pieces to …

Hey! I’m a Contender!

I just have to love the cover art for Our Lives Became Unmanageable. The illustration was painted by my mother and it captures the surreal humor I wanted to convey in this short collection of fabulist tales and flash fictions. Image © Louise …

Excitement in the Mail

Every winter, my stepfather and I used to ride the Amtrak Auto Train from Lorton, Virginia to Sanford, Florida. This was an eerie 17-hour journey through darkened towns and muddled dreams. Arriving at dawn, we opened our blinds to see a watery …