Where poets and science collide in the body — “Could menstruation and its observances in fact be experienced as empowering for women?” Social anthropologist Camilla Power writes, discussing the tradition of menstrual huts of Northern California’s Yurok people. I read this, while menstruating alone in my basement apartment, in the middle of quarantine, grieving the loss of blood —…

menstrual cycles and ladies in waiting — In a workshop on reframing the menstrual cycle, I asked participants if their fears, blood-stained memories, and critical thoughts about their body, menstrual cycle, and creativity were connected to nature. More often than not, waiting came up as a theme. Waiting to bleed. Waiting for cramps to end. Waiting to…

All the Ways a Fairytale Prince is Just a Heroine’s Accessory — “It was like a princess fairytale,” Mavis Beaumont says to her best friend in the first episode of Netflix’s Survival of the Thickest as she boxes her house plants because she found her live-in boyfriend in bed with another woman. …

On Navel Gazing, Mental Health, and Women Writers in Emily Pennington’s Memoir — I read Feral faster than I’ve read a book in a long while. It was with a force of determination: a need to get through the chaotic whirl-wind 2020 tour of 63 National Park stops in Emily Pennington’s new memoir of messy, muddy, often dusty, human accomplishment. As I read…

A review of Chelsea Stickle’s new chapbook from Thirty West Publishing — When lockdown began Stephanie Michele and I exchanged an old suitcase. She filled it with books; I filled it with fruit on her birthday. We dropped it on the doorsteps of houses above our basement apartments and waved from our cars. …

What We’re Looking Towards This January at WBC — This weekend’s full moon, the first of 2023, was a “micro-moon.” While the days are getting longer (slowly) this month, the moon is further away from earth. I have a friend who calls this the “ January slump.” While some of us at WBC are prepping for the new semester…

Winter Rituals A Flame — I just typed this line: in time all things burn. In a new adaptation of Bluebeard also known as the woman murderer, I’ve made Blu aka the man with the azul beard the fourth generation man to inherit coal land. …

A Wisdom Body Collective Series on Artist Statements — Weeks ago, I launched our series on artist statements with a call to action — why artist statements are an important artifact of artistic communication. In reality, I’ve made very few public artistic statments. …

Poetry Sunday