since 2008, as poet and owner of the poetry store, i’ve written something like 70k+ poems and art pieces, for as many people, that now live in wallets, on refrigerators, and in an army bunker in antarctica. in addition to writing custom poems on-demand at events, i’m also an artist, teacher, speaker, copywriter, and editor. i've worked in places as small as someone's living room, as intimate as a funeral, and as recognizable as google.
my work lives in the moment two strangers meet over my red royal typewriter--the anonymity an invitation to speak, the typewriter keys a willing listener. the poetry is almost incidental. the real work is offering what we all want at the core of our humanness—to feel witnessed and connected.
informed by meditation practice and a willingness to model vulnerability, my poetry lives in pursuit of quiet, gives voice to what would otherwise remain unspoken, balances heavy subjects with eating a lot of sadness and pooing stars. through on-the-spot poetry, art installations, and teaching, i aim to offer safe space for creative reflective listening that underscores the simple but often healing impact of being seen, heard, connected, and slowed in an increasingly anxious, depressed, discriminatory, violently capitalist, anti-rest, and anti-presence culture and media.
i believe being human is wondrous and hard. poetry and art are not only powerful call-us-to-presence tools and forces for destigmatizing and unshaming mental health issues, they’re also invitations to connect with ourselves, each other, and all things beautiful and absurd.
in poetry & gratitude,