How can it be March already? The past few months have held so much: Bloodstream’s official release on Feb. 3 and three wonderful reviews already; a 6-week poetry workshop I was privileged to teach, and a trip down to Vero Beach in December for two wonderful readings.

Then there were the special family gatherings over the holidays; time spent with two of my sisters, all three of my step-kids and their families in Gainesville and in St. Augustine, and my first poetry acceptances in months.

It’s rare that I’ve experienced so many over-the-top happy moments in such a compressed time frame. I find myself wanting to protract all of them to make them last just a little longer. It’s like the world poured me a cup of its best dark roast coffee, sweetened it a bit with cream and honey, and has kept it piping hot and aromatic for days as I savored every sip.

Bloodstream’s official release on Feb. 3 came a week or so after I received my author copies. The day of its release, Bloodstream was featured in Tweetspeak Poetry, in a lovely review written by the hard-working and insightful Glynn Young. About a week later, a review by Carlin Steere, a staff reviewer, showed up in the Fanmail section of Sweet: A Literary Confection. Last week, my publisher, Mercer University Press, ran a Writing Matters blog post interview with me about the book, and this week, a fantastic review by the gifted Charis Morgan went live in The Adroit Journal. I’m grateful for and humbled by the terrific reception my book has already received so early in its life!

The book’s release overlapped a poetry workshop I was invited to teach at The Lynx Bookstore here in Gainesville. I’ve never taught a poetry class before, so it was a learning experience for me. Thankfully, it proved to be incredibly rewarding. Here’s a bit more about it:

*This six-week class focused on writing joy and gratitude in poetry and we studied the poems of 25 poets whose work reflects that theme, as interpreted through different lenses. It was a small group of eight students, and the class ended on Feb. 15. The next Thursday, the Lynx sponsored a “Student Showcase” reading for the poetry students and students who had been in a separate fiction workshop at the same time. What a special event it was! Six of my students read work they’d drafted and refined during class, and everyone did a great job.

*As the end of the class approached, I found myself thinking of the wonderful poet, Ada Limon, who served as the U.S. Poet Laureate from 2022-2025. The theme I chose for my workshop, “Unabashed: Writing Joy and Gratitude in Poetry” was inspired by words I heard Ada say during a panel discussion at the AWP writers conference in Tampa in 2018. What she said, essentially, was how she wished she’d known as a younger writer that joy and gratitude were important subjects and poets should be writing about them. I had shared this anecdote with my students, and we studied her poem, “Give Me This,” in class, which led to several inspired drafts.

I had a wild hair: What I were able to contact Ada to ask if she might be able to share a few thoughts for my student? Something to keep them inspired in writing? Through a friend, I got the name of her publicist, emailed her, and was completely ecstatic when the next day, I received the following words from Ada herself:

Keep writing and fostering joy. Joy is how we find courage to meet this moment with action. It’s not just about making a poem, it’s about making a life we can live in without fear.

In December, thanks to an invitation from the wonderful poet and artist Sean Sexton, I gave a reading at the Community Church of Vero Beach as part of its Poets in Advent series. The next day, I visited with the staff and board members of the Laura Riding Jackson Foundation’s Writing Center in downtown Vero during the evening Art Walk. It was a fun reading and great to meet so many new people. In fact, the whole experience of driving to Vero using the back roads, visiting with Sean and his wife, Sharon, and the warm welcome I received from everyone I encountered was truly magical.

This morning, I head to Baltimore for three days of the AWP writing conference, where I’ll have a few book signings at various journals and plan to spend most of my time at the book fair. “All my bags are packed and I’m ready to go,” as Peter, Paul & Mary, whom I grew up listening to, sang in their hit, “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” I’ll be a bit sad to leave the comforts of home, but always look forward to the energy & fellowship of this group of writers.

Back soon with an update!