Here’s a short interview with me published in the literary magazine of Uskudar American Academy in Istanbul, Türkiye. A 12th grader there found my poem “Our Beautiful Life When It’s Filled with Shrieks” and reached out to me from across the many waters. It’s amazing what poetry can do. Thank you to Efe Oğuz Aktaş for these lovely questions. My poem and I are humming with gratitude.
A few weeks ago I received an email out of the blue from the Head Librarian at the Uskudar American Academy in Istanbul, Türkiye, letting me know that 12th graders there were reading and excited about my poem “Our Beautiful Life When It’s Filled with Shrieks” which has a line in it about people who bicycled across Turkey in the late 1800s. They are going to translate my poem into Turkish for their school magazine alongside an interview with me. I am sending them this signed copy of my second book for their library. My little dedication doesn’t come close to expressing the deep deep joy this connection across the seas has brought to my heart.