Craft Essays


“Trying to Pour From an Empty Cup: Lessons in Learning to Say No”

Poets & Writers

November / December 2024

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“Mighty Meta: The Language of Your Book (as a Book)”

Demystifying the Manuscript: Essays and Interviews on Creating a Book of Poems

2023

 

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“Entering the Whirlpool”

American Poets

Fall-Winter 2022

 

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“The End of an MFA: What Happens When a Low-Residency Program Closes?”

Poets & Writers

September / October 2020

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“Flexing the Form: Contemporary Innovation in the Sestina”

American Poets

Fall-Winter 2018

 

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“On ‘Burning the Letters’: Immolation as Creative Impulse”

Plath Poetry Project

August 2017

[Read the Restrospective]


 

“Craft Capsules”

Poets & Writers online exclusive

April-May 2017

[Read the April 4 capsule: “Find Your Metaphor”]

[Read the April 11 capsule: “Beware the Indeterminate ‘It'”]

[Read the April 17 capsule: “The Art of Targeted Revision”]

[Read the April 25 capsule: “Left Brain, Right Brain”]

[Read the May 2 capsule: “Gin and Scotch Tape”]

[Read the May 9 capsule: “Loving the Rubble”]


“What We Talk About When We Talk About Voice”

The Writer’s Chronicle

February 2017

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“Mermaids and Matryoshkas: The Secret Life of a Poetic Sequence”

Poets & Writers

November / December 2015

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“Flint and Tinder—Understanding the Difference Between ‘Poetry of Witness’ and ‘Documentary Poetics’”

Poetry Northwest

Summer & Fall 2015

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“Prioritizing Place: In Defense of Regionalism”

Poetry Foundation [online]

January 2014

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“Nice Poem; I’ll Take It.”

The New York Times Book Review

April 2013

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“‘Kilroy Was Here’: Poetry and Metaphor as Signature”

American Poet

April 2012

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