Writing
I have been writing professionally since 2014. My work began as a poet and freelance copywriter. In 2015, after some buzz on social media drew readers to my account, I began a small writing business called notesontheway. I began writing custom poetry and selling art prints of my poems to clients all around the world. Through that business, I have had the privilege of writing poetry for a diverse audience, from mothers and small business owners to television academy executives and best-selling authors. I've enjoyed making poetry an accessible and personal art form for people who previously found it unapproachable.
My poetry has been published by the award-winning Michigan Jewish History Journal, Hal Leonard Music Publishing, and Murphy Music Press. It's been featured in multimodal collaborations, weddings, and liturgy, including High Holy Day services and Interfaith LGBTQ+ Pride events. I have twice received honorable mention in poetry competitions hosted by Vocal Media, and in 2020, I was the recipient of a grant from New arts collective, who commissioned 43 poems on love. I also write essays, editorials, and interviews which I publish through my growing newsletter, The Daylily, on Substack. In recent days, I have collaborated with authors Kaitlin Curtice, Joanne Limburg, Mari Andrew, and Alex Elle, and viral essayist Courtney Ariel.
Below you can find examples of my work and links to relevant sites.
The Daylily
My newsletter, The Daylily, is the best way to keep up with my current writings. Here you will find essays, poetry, updates, interviews with other fantastic artists, and my audio collaboration with singer-songwriter Alex Blue, The Daybird Sessions.
Award-winning author, poet-storyteller, and public speaker. Enrolled member of the Potawatomi nation.
Photo by Amy Paulson
Songwriter, storyteller, viral essayist, and doctoral candidate researching Black women's spirituality.
Narada Photography, photo taken by Hannah Narada Somboon.
ESSAY:
"To the person who will
assess me for autism"
Perhaps this letter is superfluous. I’m not sure, I’m hardly ever sure. But after thirty-odd years of struggling, trying, begging, failing to be understood, of course I wonder if I’ve simply failed to explain myself...
Photo by Rebecca Horness
ESSAY:
"When the dam breaks"
Years ago, when an utterly awful roommate moved out of my house, I bought a bottle of wine to celebrate. Then I spent the whole night in tears. When six weeks ago I decided to stop using social media, I did the same. This break from my American life felt not dissimilar—like a dam built from need and held together at great cost, which, in losing its usefulness, is finally allowed to yield, the waters to flow...
Meanwhile, I go
Featured in Kaitlin Curtice's
Liminality Journal
Meanwhile, I go
I moved to a home in the city,
so I planted some trees,
so I look to them often to stay rooted.
This is what I know is true,
that a beautiful walk in the city
is still a beautiful walk;
a beautiful home,
still a beautiful home,
only you have to work a bit harder
to get your favorite birds to come,
to love the ones already here.
To love them
it helps to know their names.
The song sparrow is plain,
poorly dressed, but
oh can she sing.
And it won’t be soon
our young red maple
can host their songs herself,
but it will be.
I am okay waiting
because I must.
Meanwhile, I go
to the bakery,
I go to the market,
I watch my son
touch flowers where he finds them,
growing too
from side yards,
from window boxes,
from bee gardens,
from every little give
in the old concrete.
Shalom Rav
Featured in the 2022 edition of the
Michigan Jewish History Journal
Shalom Rav
Give us peace.
Not an ignorant peace,
nor a winner’s one.
I do not want a bliss
built on the back of another,
no matter what they think of me.
I don’t believe we will ever all agree.
Yes, if there was an easy peace,
I imagine we’d have found it by now.
Whatever you call the lifeforce,
be it God, spirit, holiness, humanity,
do you remember it connects us all?
We are each putting roots in the dirt,
sprouting from the ground that’s borne us,
growing together, green
and grateful for the lengthening days,
sticking our noses straight into sunlight,
sharing space, sharing air,
sharing earth.
Give us peace.
Nothing alike are the trees and
the sparrows, the moss and the badger,
the snake and the bluebell.
What do they have in common aside from
the woodlands they call home?
And, oh, then just alike are they—
lives that, in this beautiful world,
only wish to keep on living.
The Stories You Told
The Stories You Told & Other Poems: A Practice in Empathy is a limited edition chapbook of photographs, art, and commissioned poetry. Upon its release, it made its way to hundreds across five continents. Now out of print.
Podcast Appearances:
- Queerology (Named one of O Magazine's "Best LGBTQ podcasts of 2020")
- Hey, Girl (with NYT bestselling author Alex Elle)
- Wordsmith: The Poetry Podcast
IMAGE CREDITS:
Photos by Torri Blue unless otherwise indicated.