I’m sharing different sides of my literary life on this site, beginning with some of my own selected publications. I write poems, mainly, having come to poetry in a roundabout way. An early interest in art lead to a Painting major at RISD, studio practice, and art handling for an art museum. Always an avid reader/writer, and drawn to artists who employ and refer to text in their artwork, text itself—prose at first, then poetry—became the focus of my own work. My current manuscript investigates the nature of perception, cognition, gaze, identity, and aesthetics. Have I come full circle?
In 2014 I started Ornithopter Press, an independent publisher of poetry that runs counter to the mainstream. The press puts out two to four books per year and aims to amplify a broad range of perspectives and experience. Connection to authors I’ve come to know through Ornithopter Press means the world to me. Their poetry has changed my conception of poetics, and how could it not? To read holding others in mind, to reach a concerted understanding and common cause, is transformational. To think I’ve had the good fortune to publish such brilliant people—I’m grateful.
I’m responsible for the graphic design and composition of Ornithopter Press designs, from chapbooks to perfect bound paperbacks. Collaboration with people from different walks of life, beginning and ending with each book’s author, is work I find especially fulfilling. The challenge is to make a package worthy of the words, a sympathetic pairing of form and content. My designs have employed time-honored techniques (like the block above carved for John Martone’s chapbook so long), new technologies radically changing print production, and work by other artists.