My Bookshelf

My Poetry

In 2004 I entered the Wick Poetry competition with a collection of poems I’d been working on.   I’d discovered that being busy with work, home and family didn’t leave much time for writing.  Writing poetry gave me a simple outlet for creative expression.  By gathering images and working with them in short bursts of creative energy, I eventually amassed a body of work that could be gathered into a chapbook manuscript.  

The word “chapbook” is derived from the word “cheap,” since early books were economically produced and allowed the writers to have more exposure to the readers of their day.  In some ways, the tradition continues. Many new and emerging poets get their start by publishing these small, cardboard covered and stapled books of no more than about 50 pages.

My winning entry in the Wick Poetry competition was edited by Maggie Anderson.  The result is Morning Song ,  poems that explore memory, loss, and redemption.

Some of my favorite poets are the other Wick poets published by the Wick Poetry Center. Tom and Stan Wick were two cousins who loved to write and were both tragically killed in car accidents within the space of four years.  Their family established the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University in their memory. Each year they publish the work of one emerging Ohio poet, one Ohio student poet, and one full length poetry manuscript by a new poet.

You can learn more about the Wick Poetry Center, the current chapbook competitions and related topics at http://dept.kent.edu/wick/links.htm

For a complete list of Wick poetry books, or to order Morning Song , contact Kent State University Press at 419-281-1802