My book has a cover!! Thank you to @seanland81 for permission to use his stunning painting, Sperm Whale Skeleton I, and to the good people at @fourwaybooks and @petzelgallery for making this happen. (I love how the image wraps around, like the porches of my favorites houses.) Thank you too to @im_an_oil_man for design advice, and to @ocean_vuong for the incredibly kind words on the back cover. IN THE GOOD YEARS will be out in the world September 15, 2025.
I’m so excited to say that my first full-length poetry collection will be published by Four Way Books in 2025! Thank you @fourwaybooks for giving In the Good Years a home. And thank you friends who have been reading versions of these poems for years. The earliest poem in the manuscript got its start in grad school in 2015. But it also feels like I’ve been writing this book all my life.
Being his mom is my favorite thing. Everything is more fun now, including frequenting playgrounds and small airports. (Just please don’t become a pilot.)
Happy Mother’s Day too to Julian’s best playmate @mariespettellcreste ❤️
Look Ma, I made the local paper. Thank you @berkshireeagle and @masscenterforbook ! I’m grateful to be on this long list with other Mass (and, more specifically, other Berkshire!) authors. I moved to Massachusetts in 2020 and have been singing her praises ever since.
I’m using this caterpillar on the playground (pale tiger moth, maybe) to remind everyone that there are two days left to register for my @fineartsworkcenter online workshop “Nature Is Not a Place.” I very much want to discuss weird, great poems about animals, water ways, viruses, etc. and trade trivia that makes us remember that we live in a strange, miraculous place. If that describes you too, consider signing up at the link in my bio! Tuesdays in May, 5-7pm ET.
@fishwifetales
So cool to see this artist book by Jane Mullett (@janemullett_art ) which uses a line from In the Good Years (@fourwaybooks ). Jane’s book is part of an exhibition at the Firestation Print Studio in Australia.
My class with FAWC Online begins in two weeks and there’s still room to sign up! In “Nature Is Not a Place: a Generative Workshop,” we’ll discuss ecopoetry and the necropastoral, consider what is meant by “natural,” and we’ll write our own work—poems or otherwise—guided by prompts. Here are just a few of the pieces I’m excited to talk about, by W. S. Merwin, Joyelle McSweeney, John Berger, and Ross Gay. (Plus an illustration from the children’s book Many by Nicola Davies.)
Link to register in my bio🌱
In this edition of Finding Art in Life, meet mother/poet @lauracreste , author of ‘In the Good Years’ and ‘You Should Feel Bad.’
I loved this line from our Q&A with her:
“I parent myself with benign neglect, a too-busy mother assuming that their child’s homework is getting done and then finally checking in the week before report cards are printed.” Yes, yes, yes.
Laura writes poems piecemeal during parallel play and finds inspiration in Olympic divers, boiled eggs, and the word “bear” meaning both a wooden toy and the giant hulk of fur plodding through her neighbor’s field.
Laura’s work is very moving and I’m excited to share it with you all! Read the full Q&A at link in bio 😊
I’m excited to teach a class with @fineartsworkcenter online this spring, Nature Is Not a Place—a title inspired by @adalimonwriter ‘s essential anthology You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World. Together, let’s read, write, stave off despair, and think deeply about what me mean by natural vs unnatural.
