A Person of Interest, a Person with News!

First poems, latest poems, letterpresses, paperweights, launch parties... oh my.

Hello readers,

I hope you are seeing signs of spring wherever you are! This week on March 23, I celebrated the third anniversary of my first published poem in Ekstasis (which has transformed into Inkwell). Many thanks to Conor Sweetman for my big break. “Sorrow” is a free verse poem because I had not yet learned how to write formal poetry. I tried and tried, but it wasn’t until the fall of 2023 that I entered the MFA program at the University of St. Thomas and was able to learn the craft in meter. Some people can learn on their own, but I am not one of those people. After three years of hard work, look at me now! I hope this encourages others who want to pursue something later in life to go for it. Just so you know, the MFA program I am in has rolling admissions, and there are three tracks: fiction, poetry, and the brand new literary non-fiction/memoir. I heard there are still some openings. I’d be glad to chat with anyone about the program if you think you’d be interested.

Two Poems at PFPOI

The cat’s out of the bag! I am officially a Person of Interest, and thank you to Alex Rettie and Sarah Adeyemo for selecting two of my poems for the March 2026 edition of Poems for Persons of Interest: “Airplane” and “Two Roads”.

Please note that due to the formatting of the poem “Airplane” is best on a larger screen or in print. On most smartphones, the poem won’t look like a plane. And you will want to read this out loud because unlike many concrete poems this is in rhyme and meter!

Fun fact: I actually fold up a paper copy and fly it out into audiences.

This is what my poem is supposed to look like. And here I am at Frost Farm getting ready to deliver my poem! (Credit: Steve Knepper)

What an honor to be featured alongside poems and translations by Steve Knepper, J.C. Scharl, Renee Emerson, Jesse Keith Butler, Benjamin Myers, Burl Horniachek, Louis Hunt, Alexander Fayne, Isabella Hsu and others. It is a really wonderful issue, and I am not saying that because I’m in it.

Check out the whole kit and caboodle HERE! It’s awesome!

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Two Poems in a Chapbook by Lettre Sauvage

Fellow Person of Interest (“Villanelle of Quiet Desperation”), Isabella Hsu, is also in a forthcoming chapbook with me and our classmates Fiona Spring Leggett and Marie Burdett. I love how Isabella documented her trip with Marie to Fiona’s studio. You can read about it on her Substack, Catching the Moon.

Credit: Fiona Spring Leggett. Ex. letterpress photo: Isabella Hsu

And if you are interested in finding out more from Fiona, the owner of Lettre Sauvage, check out her Substack where you can see the latest update. Message her or me directly if you would like to order one of these limited-edition chapbooks. Due to the limited run, the high quality of materials used for the art and printing, and the handcrafting that goes into each book the cost of each book is $50. Only about 180 copies will be made and a number of them have been spoken for already!

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NVR’s Rusty Paperweight

My other fellow Person of Interest Steve Knepper (he’s got a triolet in PFPOI) has already listed a lot of the links I wanted to include so please check out the latest from our Editor-in-Chief at New Verse Review: A Journal of Lyric and Narrative Poetry.

NVR, in its humble way, has tried to provide a home for both excellent new poetry and a critical conversation. We’ve also tried to keep things fun. I hope we can continue to do so for years to come.

[…]

I sometimes think of the poetry scene as an ecosystem. A flourishing ecosystem is stable but dynamic. It supports a variety of life. You can’t have a flourishing literary ecosystem with just one or two journals. You need a number of journals with high standards but also different editorial sensibilities. There are too many uncertainties to say that our poetic ecosystem is flourishing. At times, the amount of content on Substack (to which NVR contributes) can feel like an algae bloom. And, certainly, journals like NVR do not have a strong institutional backing. We do our work on a shoestring budget. (It’s very good that The Colosseum and Portico have solid support from foundations.) The old, university-sponsored model of publications had its problems, but it was also remarkably stable for a long time. Still, if our poetic ecosystem isn’t flourishing, it’s at least healthier. And that’s no small thing.

Read the rest here:

The Rusty Paperweight: March '26

Portico’s Launch Party

One of the new and exciting publications that Steve mentioned in the RP was Micah Mattix’s Portico, and it looks like they have a fun event coming up:

We are throwing a launch party for Portico on April 9th at the Union League Club in New York. Mark Helprin, Christian Wiman, and Dominic Green—all contributors to the first issue—will talk about their work and the task of the writer today. Join us for cocktails at 5:00 pm followed by the panel discussion at 6:00 pm. Space is limited, so sign up today. (Please note that jackets are required for men and equivalent dress for women.)

If you are in town you may want to check out. Looks like a fun shindig.

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Speaking of parties…

The Republic of Letters had their first anniversary party Friday, March 20 where they had the winner of their short story contest, Michael Maiello read from “The 1975ers" which I absolutely loved and hope you will read.

“The 1975ers” is a standout: high-concept and laugh-out-loud funny, but also emotionally resonant. The story manages to skillfully tackle the narrator’s attempts to come to terms with his impending death from a virus affecting everyone born in 1975 while also working in references to Casey Affleck, Jay Z, 50 Cent, two-thirds of The Black Eyed Peas and the sitcom Different Strokes. It’s a high-wire act and the story could have easily come off as trying too hard to be clever, but Michael Maiello knows what he’s doing. And he sticks the ending with a sentence that brings to mind Isaac Babel’s claim that “No iron spike can pierce a human heart as icily as a period in the right place.”

-Wim Hylen

And special hooray for my friend, fellow UST MFAer, Eric Cyr, for claiming an honorable mention in the contest!

Are there any short stories you’ve found on Substack that you think I must read?
Please leave me a comment!

More April Events

I already mentioned Portico’s launch on April 9th, but it turns out that there are many other things happening just next month. I will be presenting at this first one.

Tuesday, April 14th — An Evening of Poetry | No Nothingness, Only Being: In Memoriam Jane Greer

When and Where: Tuesday, April 14, 6-9  PM (ET) at The Port, Epp Hall,

As many of you know, I edited NVR’s Tribute to Jane Greer, and after the issue came out I received an invitation to speak at this event in Pittsburgh. I will have the honor of joining two wonderful poets, George David Clark and Robert Bernard Hass, in reading poetry and talking about our friend Jane. I’m hoping to see some of my Pennsylvania friends at this event. Let me know if you will be there!

Before poet Jane Greer died, she reached out to Beatrice Institute about a dream—”my fantasy!” she called it—to gather in Pittsburgh and celebrate poetry. Her idea for the event was dynamic—almost volcanic, as she envisioned multiple poets reading poems, their own and their stage-mates’, song lyrics, old poems, new poems, poems in-utero, and reacting, in real time, with comments, quips, and ideas. As Jane said, “It’s meant to be fun, a bit interactive, and more visually and aurally interesting than one poet reading for an hour. Most of all, it’s about the glory of poetry rather than any particular poet.”

Beatrice Institute is so grateful to bring Jane’s fantasy to life this spring, if not with the great plains-woman herself, in her spirit. We have invited three of Jane’s friends to Pittsburgh to share poems, stories, and conversation, but most of all, to celebrate the life and legacy of the great Jane Greer.

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Saturday, April 18th — What’s Old is New Again: A workshop for finishing unfinished poems

When and Where: Saturday, April 18, 2-5PM (ET) virtual via Zoom

My friend Tamara Nicholl-Smith is teaching a special one-day virtual poetry writing workshop called What’s Old is New Again: A workshop for finishing unfinished poems. This is a fundraiser to support scholarships for young writers to attend Catholic Literary Arts’ Summer Writing Camp. And 100% of the proceeds go directly to funding a scholarship. Here’s Tamara’s description:

Have unfinished poems or favorite lines you couldn’t make work? This workshop is all about mining your own archive of abandoned drafts, cut lines, and failed experiments to create fresh poems. We’ll spend three hours writing together, sharing work, and learning techniques for getting unstuck creatively. Don’t have a backlog of work to plunder? Not to fear, I will have some prompts for folks that want to begin anew as well.

Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/whats-old-is-new-again-an-interactive-poetry-workshop-tickets-1984155830501¹

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Saturday, April 25 — Newburyport Literary Festival’s Breakfast with the Poets

When and Where: Saturday, April 25, 9AM-4PM at the Central Congregational Church in Newburyport

The nationally recognized Powow River Poets open the Day of Poetry sharing breakfast breads, pastries, fruit, and beverages generously donated by our local vendors starting at 8:30am. The readings will begin at 9am and will go throughout the day. Hosts and presenters include: Jean L. Kreiling, James Najarian, Owen X. Grey, Diannely Antigua, Jan Schreiber, Priscilla Turner Spada, Deborah Warren, Jenna Lê, A.M. Juster, Zara Raab, Alfred Nicol, Oliver de la Paz, Rachel Hadas, Meredith Bergmann, Priscilla Turner Spada, Rhina Espaillat, Debbie Szabo, Paulette Demers Turco, and NHS Poetry Soup!

I have been to this event, and I have to say it is a blast. I’m definitely going again this year. Let me know if you plan on being there.

Did I miss any April events? Please let me know!

Look at how much fun the last ALSCW was!

ALSCW 2026 in Baltimore: Call for Papers

The ALSCW’s 2026 Conference will take place at Johns Hopkins University, from Thursday, October 22 to Sunday, October 25, 2026. You may remember that I had a fantastic time last year. I went to my panel dressed as Persephone and recited a lot of A.E. Stallings. However, this year features probably the most interesting Call for Papers I have seen in a long time. I hope some of you will consider presenting in Charm City. A number of panels are going to be led by people I know, like Elijah Perseus Blumov, Ryan Wilson, Robert Bernard Hass, Sunil Iyengar and David Yezzi.

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Contest Deadlines

Of the contests I mentioned in my “cat” post, here the ones still active:

Wayfare Magazine’s BEHOLD THE MAN! Poetry Contest

• Judge: James Matthew Wilson / Deadline: March 29, 2026 (Palm Sunday)

Frost Farm Prize for Metrical Poetry

• Judge: Ryan Wilson / Deadline: March 31, 2026

Catholic Literary Arts’s Sacred Poetry Contest

• Judge: Daniel Tobin / Deadline: March 31, 2026

Plough’s Rhina Espaillat Award

• Judge: Plough’s poetry editor, J.C. Scharl , will select approximately twenty poems for further consideration, and then the editors will reach a consensus on the winner and the two finalists./ Deadline: April 31, 2026

Jane Greer Memorial Poetry Contest

• Judge: Judges include poetry editor Meredith McCann, associate editor Andrew Calis, and guest judge J.C. Scharl / Deadline: May 31, 2026

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There’s so much more that I want to write, but I guess I will have to post more often, at least in the next few weeks.

Now off to hang up my saints…

Always with the music,
Zina the Baby-Poet

1. If you can’t make April 18th, or if you’re looking for something in addition to the fundraiser workshop, Tamara is also teaching a three-week series in May with homework between sessions to deepen your practice: Places Never Travelled: Writing Poems of Journey (Wednesdays May 6, 13, 20 at 7pm Central). This class will explore poetic journeys through interior and exterior landscapes, real and imagined.

Register for May series: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/places-never-travelled-writing-poems-of-journey-tickets-1977925822379