What inspired you to be a poet?
I was a reader for as long as I can remember, and through reading I’ve learned how language works together and creates new experiences for the reader. I was exposed to poetry early thanks to my nana, and I couldn’t help but dive headlong into creating poems.
Who are some of your favorite poets?
Some of my favorite classic poets: William Blake, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, Sylvia Plath, and Mary Oliver.
Contemporary favorites: W. Luther Jett, Jeannine Hall Gailey, Kristin Kowalski Ferragut, Courtney LeBlanc, Reuben Jackson, Jericho Brown, John Sibley Williams, Sara Cahill Marron, Indran Amirthanayagam, Jona Colson, Jehanne Dubrow, Regie Cabico, Bernadette Geyer, and so many more. There’s also Billy Collins and Richard Blanco.
What are the books you’ve read more than once?
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Dien Cai Dau by Yusef Komunyakaa
How to Love a Country by Richard Blanco
IT by Stephen King
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
Blake’s Poetry and Designs: Authoritative Texts, Illuminations in Color and Monochrome, Related Prose, Criticism
What inspired your current collection?
Echoes Carry is about 10 years worth of work. I don’t write toward a theme, which means I’m writing poems on a variety of these all the time. Once I carve out time, I sit down with my drafts to see where themes emerge and piece them together to get a draft manuscript. This collection emerged from themes of memory, ancestry, and connection in these poems, and after rearranging them several times, I had a manuscript to send out.
Where can I read some of your work?
A lot of my work appears online, though some journals may have closed their doors over the years. The anthologies I’m published in continue to be in print. Of course, check out my publication page (add link) and by Echoes Carry.