Day 6 and 7 of the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing…teaching my Literary Publishing class, attending the closing ceremonies…then traveling home from that little island I love so much! Thank you so much to all the awesome attendees, faculty, and staff who made this MVICW 2026 such a warm and wonderful time!!!
Day 5 of the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing…teaching my workshops Flash Away and Welcoming Surprises, then faculty Dinner at Oak Bluff’s Black Joy Kitchen followed by the traditional late night visit to Back Door Donuts!
Day 4 of the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing…manuscript conferences with tons of awesome writers (not pictured 😀) followed by a faculty trip to Menemsha for sunset lobsters and then fog fog lighthouse fog fog!
Day 3 of the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing…talking over manuscripts with writers at the Vineyard Arts Project and hearing the evening readings by the wonderful Hannah Bae and the wonderful Jackson Brown!
Oh, just 3 alumni from Indiana University’s MFA in Creative Writing strolling along the night-time docks in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard: Alexander Weinstein, Jackson Brown, and yours truly!
Hot golly! Advance copies of my nephew Brian’s new jazz album, Keep Moving (Home), on Chicago’s Calligram Records, have arrived. He asked me to write a poem to be the liner notes, and it’s there in the CD and as a pullout insert for the vinyl album! The album’s not up on the label’s website yet, but it’ll be available as digital, CD, and vinyl when it’s released this May.
The single most important teacher in my life (and I’ve had a bunch of great ones) has died. I’m gutted to hear that Wayne Dodd, my first poetry teacher, has passed. I entered his poetry workshops at Ohio University as a freshman, in love with writing poetry, but unaware that anyone had written poetry since the Beats. I took every poetry workshop he offered until there were no more to take. Every afternoon in his class, staring out at the sycamores from the upper floors of Ellis Hall, my mind was blown and the boundaries of my heart were enlarged. I’d never had a teacher like Wayne before, and I’ve never had one like him since. He introduced me to the poets whose work guided my life, both in poetry and in just, like, life. His teaching literally changed my life. And today, over 30 years later, every time I teach things that Wayne taught me about poetry come out in what I give my students. Those golden hours in his classroom are never far from my mind. RIP dear dear Wayne Dodd. A poet and teacher.
Visited my friend the wonderful poet Emma Rhodes (in the middle of this photo) with my partner Sarah in Toronto last week! A mini Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing AND Ionian Center for the Arts & Culture reunion! Yes yes!
And so ends another nourishing, inspiring week teaching at Paul Smith’s College, with the celebration readings at the Forestry Cabin. Kettle Pond Writers’ Conference!?! Ya’ did it again! Thank you everyone for making that week so magical!
A perfect day with Chen Chen, Michael Seidlinger, Andy Tran, my sweetie, and me… Going for a writer’s walk in the woods at Paul Smith’s College: the butterfly tent, the floating bridge, wild orchids, not getting lost or dying of blood loss to mosquitos! More from the Kettle Pond Writers’ Conference at Paul Smith’s College of the Adirondacks!
