Many thanks to everyone who came out to the reading at The Candy Factory in Lancaster, PA on May 5. It was an amazing gathering. Hope we can do it again soon. Thanks to The Candy Factory for hosting and to Dana Kinsey, Ruth O’Gara, and Jose Padua for reading and for all their help. Here are the evenings readers. Thanks to Linda Adams Blaskey and Jane Miller for the beautiful poems.

Hope folks riding buses in Wilkes-Barre, PA enjoy my little poem about Intention. Thanks to Jennifer Judge and the entire staff who make Poetry in Transit possible. Many beautiful poems will greet bus riders this fall.

My poem “Houses” highlights a certain spouse’s obsession with finding houses that dream. Thanks to the ASP Bulletin for publishing it.

Thanks to Katherine E. Young for choosing my poems “Green Card” and “Folk Art” for the anthology, Written in Arlington, Poems of Arlington, Virginia. Although I live in D.C., I have worked for 20 years in Arlington–first in Rosslyn and now in Crystal City. This is a rich anthology on a myriad of topics, but all tied in some way to this diverse and unique area. I was also able to read my poem “Folk Art” at an online event hosted by the Arlington Public Library series, “From Diane’s Livingroom.” We had a great discussion about poetry and Arlington. See the YouTube Video of Arlington Public Library Poetry Reading: Live From Diane’s Living Room! Ep. 9: Written in Arlington with Poet Katherine E. Young and Friends, December 18, 2020.

These poems have been cooking for a long time and finally found their true shape and audience in the Marsh Hawk Press Review, Spring 2021, edited by the incomparable Eileen R. Tabios. The eco-poem, “Porch Sitting,” about the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains haunted me for a long time. Having lived in the Shenandoah Valley for 10 years, I can still hear those mountains.

The beautiful journal Fledgling Rag published by Iris G. Press has included 4 of my poems in Issue #20. The poems explore difficult topics from female genital mutilation to racial profiling to gun control. Thanks so much to Lisa Munson and Le Hinton for giving these poems a home among such great company, including poems by Jose Padua, Reuben Jackson, Brandon D. Johnson, Rose Solari, Truth Thomas, Sarah Ann Winn, and featured poet Holly Karapetkova.

All the proceeds from the sale of Fledgling Rag go directly to the Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic. Issue 20 costs $20 but is on sale for $15. Previous issues are $10. You can send your total payment directly the Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic online at:

My poem, “That Kid,” has been published by the wonderful Northern Virginia Review. Our kids with differences take a lot of heat from people who have no idea what drives their behaviors. But these kids are brilliant and need to develop at their own unique pace to really shine.

Volume 34, Spring 2020 can be read here.

New fiction and non-fiction by 50 DC-area women–what could be better? I’m so honored that my essay, “Be the Ocean: Everyday Lessons in Rage,” is included. These stories and essays take readers to unexpected places with grace and gravity. Edited by Melissa Scholes Young, this anthology is the 9th in the Grace and Gravity series founded by Richard Peabody to highlight the work of women writers. Despite challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Melissa and her team, including her students at American University, have managed to publish and promote this volume with style.

Buy the book at Politics & Prose

Launch Events below.

Busy working moms who need to write and also communicate with a writing community but are short on time and resources can turn to online writing classes. They are a convenient way to learn, share, and build new relationships with follow writers. Most, if not all courses, allow you to make your own hours. A six-week online novel writing course from Curtis Brown Creative, out of London consists of short well-produced videos and focused tasks that are then shared with other students. Each week the instructors choose the work of several students to critique. The online platform is easy to use and attractive. I am currently in this course and am surprised at the high quality of work from all of the students, as well as their friendliness and openness. Though not free, the price is reasonable and no more than a class at the local writer’s center. For people who have trouble carving out learning time from motherly and work duties, this kind of online course set-up is brilliant.