Dear readers,
My goal with this platform is to send a newsletter twice a month this year. I hope to accomplish that!
Here are some highlights of what I’ve been up to in my little writing world this month.
Like everyone I know, I was sickened by the terrorist attack on January 6. And like most writers I have been reading lately, I wrote about it.
This Impossible Society is a poem about reading dystopia with my son.
Speaking of kids, I wrote Why We Have to Raise Self-Secure Humans. Every time something horrible happens, I just immediately think of who these people were as children. Who are their parents? What runs in their DNA?
And running with an argument one of my students parroted the other day, “Those were just people in disguise,” I wrote this satirical poem with the same words.
Turning towards hope, my newest quote prompt at Sky Collection is inspired by Stacey Abrams:
LIKE MOST WHO ARE UNDERESTIMATED, I HAVE LEARNED TO OVER-PERFORM AND FIND SOFT BUT KEY WAYS TO TAKE CREDIT. BECAUSE ULTIMATELY, LEADERSHIP AND POWER REQUIRE THE CONFIDENCE TO EFFECTIVELY WIELD BOTH. — Stacey Abrams
Writers at Sky Collection are already impressing me with their responses!
Finally, Zay Pareltheon of Scrittura invited me to talk about my writing process, especially in terms of poetry. You can read that interview here!
What’s in the works?
I interviewed my husband and we are collaborating on a piece about how COVID-19 and anti-racist work has affected university libraries.
I am working on a second collection of poetry, which should be out by spring! In the meantime, check out my debut collection, Reaching Marrakesh, which is available in paperback and on Kindle.
Thank you for being an audience while I build my life-long dream.
-Samantha