Forthcoming from Red Hen Press

My first poetry collection, Allegheny, Monongahela was chosen as the winner of the 2008 Benjamin Saltman First Book Prize at Red Hen Press by Peggy Shumaker. The collection uses the confluence of rivers in Pittsburgh as a metaphorical lens to investigate the emotional collisions between the world and the self in a complex and difficult sibling and family relationship. Rooted in a mutable and watery landscape that is not consistently recognizable, Allegheny, Monongahela is an imagistic exploration of the ruinous misalignment that exists between the external and internal lives and the ways in which art can close the gap.

Allegheny, Monongahela is tentatively scheduled for release in mid-February 2009, in time for the annual Associated Writing Programs conference and book fair.