Artist Statement

Every poem I have written thus far has been an attempt to adhere to an old compulsion to write something minutely profound, to illustrate a spot in time. Though my poems are confessional in ways that are cathartic to me, I want them to be responsible for more than my own healing. I want them to be responsible in a Romantic sense. I believe that poetry should make us feel small next to the enormity of the human strand, that strand being comprised of the truths (however delightful or horrible) of human nature. I want my poetry to illuminate a keyhole, through which a reader might peer and see parts of that human strand.

The forms in which I typically write are minimalist, and the tone sentimental. It seems necessary to me in an age of brevity to make a poem say something that affects the reader, and say it without much ado. My hope for my poems is that they turn on a dime, sucker-punch, and teleport great distances in mere moments.

I write what I know, which most often leaves me writing about themes surrounding culture, identity, grief, loss, memory and food.