Poetry (and creative nonfiction)
for Adults
Poetry happens when I respond to sights, experiences, thoughts, emotions: if it feels like poetry—if there's a certain deep stirring inside—chances are I will try to capture it in lyrical language.
And then it is up to me to find the right words to give form and content to the poem-to-be. I love to experiment with poetic language and form, and am lucky to have a wonderful group of poets with whom to share the process. Occasionally, I use a short creative nonfiction prose form, which often feels like poetry to me, and I include short pieces here.
Some of my most recent work is published in the following journals:
Publications from the 2000s.....
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"How Not to Fly Away", Pulse, June 2021
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“Advice From a Piranha Who Lives in Manaus, Brazil”, Birmingham Arts Journal, December 2021
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“Bits of the World in Verse”, Birmingham Arts Journal, December 2021
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“719 Lombard”, Capsule Stories, Autumn 2021
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“Late Autumn Prairie Grass”, Capsule Stories, Autumn 2021
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"Just So You Know", MATTER Anthology, Oprelle Publications, December 2020.
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“Security Guard at the Early Childhood Center”, “Dangerous Memory”,“First Kiss”, "He Was Dying and I Was Fat" and “I Know Those People”, Otherwise Engaged, May 2020.
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“We Danced”, A Moment of Your Time Podcast, May 2020.
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“Beyond Chicago”, Red Coyote, May 2020.
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“A Man Was Here”, “Weigh Day”, and “How to Recite a Poem”, The Write City Magazine, (Chicago Writers Association), October 2019
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“Winter Prairie Grass”, West Texas Review, Spring 2019.
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“After Shiva”, “The Last Moment”, and “Israelites Like Butterflies”, 2018 Mizmor Anthology, December 2018.
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“Sixteen”, Silver Birch Press April 2015.
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“Deborah Voigt Does Broadway Show Tunes”, The Lake Winter 2014.
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“This is Your Azalea”, Broad! Winter 2014.
In October 2019 I drove from Skokie to Peoria driving to the Illinois Reading Council conference to work at the SCBWI table.
The autumn fields of Illinois opened
on either side of me as I drove alone,
with windows down.
My heart swelled with love
for my state and the prairie and farm land.