My poetry is nourished by an intricate web of relationships with other writers and thinkers.

First, I celebrate The Chickadee Collective, an intimate group of poets dedicated to appreciating and shepherding poetry into its final form based in the greater Boston Area. Extra hugs to chickadees Lulu Liu, Tina Harrison, Abby Finklestein, Jess Le, A.M. Crehan, Jade Kleiner, and Otto Vock for spending hours helping to doula my work.

Another wave of gratitude goes to my teachers. Chen Chen, you welcome me right into the friendly heart of the living poetic world like no other. Otto Vock, your pedagogy creates so much space and energy in my body and brain. Vievee Francis, your understanding of poetic form, structure, and the expansiveness of ecopoetics has watered the roots of my nature writing. Eduardo C. Corral (and the L’il Scrambles who also took your class Mary Angelino, Kami Enzie, Marisa Tirado, and John T. Howard) you exploded and then helped me rebuild my concept of how full-length collections cohere.

I also have many teachers I have not met. They are impossible to all name here, but I can’t not name Mary Oliver, Sharon Olds, Jane Hirshfield, Virginia Woolf, Marie Howe, Joni Mitchell, Frank O’Hara, Mark Doty, Rainer Maria Rilke, Aracelis Girmay, Ross Gay, Thom Yorke, Amy Winehouse, and Deb Talan. Their words are deep in my soul and part of my lineage.

David, my oldest poet friend and Mom, my first poetry companion—you planted seeds, then rained.