Poems

Select Online Publications

Illustration of mourning dove eggs and nest.

Ode to the Mourning Dove

How can we not love
your nests?

Illustration of meadow lark eggs and nest.

Field Sketch for Meadow Lark

In a field stained April green,
her son pointed… 

Illustration of ruby-throated hummingbird eggs and nest.

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

Hours to measure
the scale of nest to leaf…


More Poems from Studies of Familiar Birds

American Life in Poetry: “Robbing the Bees.”

Verse Daily: “Cliff Swallow.”

The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: “The Last Time My Father Left the House,” “Fever,” “Study for Ruby-Throated Hummingbird,” “Portrait of Genevieve as a Young Woman,” and “After the Diagnosis.”

Beloit Poetry Journal“Green Heron (PLATE XXVII)”“Black-Capped Chickadee (PLATE LXVI),” and “Kentucky Warbler (PLATE LXVII).”

Terrain.org“Field Sketch for Meadow Lark,” “Study for Long-Billed Marsh Wren,” “Long-Billed Marsh Wren (PLATE XLVI.),” and “Climbing for Nests.”

DIAGRAM“Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (PLATE XXV. Fig. 1)” and “Golden-Winged Warbler (PLATE LXL. Fig. 2).”

PANK“Bird in a Bell Jar,” “Ode to the Mourning Dove,” and “Funeral.”

The Drum“Coquina Rock” and “Test Drive.”

Unsplendid“Robbing the Bees” (re-published by American Life in Poetry) and “Migration.” 


Other Poems

Tupelo Quarterly: A Portfolio of Erasures

Terrain: “More Questions of Travel.”

Mudlark: Poems from Millie and the Baffle Book.

Innisfree Poetry Journal: “If Rick Steves Were Your Boyfriend.”

The American Journal of Poetry: “Millie, Librarian-Detective, at the Track” and “Suspicions.”

Still: The Journal: “Millie’s Origin Story,” “Dear Charlie: Letters Written in Library Books.”

Beloit Poetry Journal: “High Time.”

Ginger Zine: “Lament,” “Everyday Calculations,” “Parsonage Parlor,” “Let’s Construct a Model City,” and “Active Shooter Training.”

Guitarist Scott Whiddon and multi­-instrumentalist J. Tom Hnatow developed music to accompany “Bird in a Bell Jar.” The poem appeared in the Transylvania University BYTE Gallery of Digital Art and Music. Listen to the poem on Soundcloud.

DIAGRAM“How to Read Me (October Birthday Cake).”


All plate images are from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Contributed by Smithsonian Libraries. http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org⁠