In my writing life, I am captivated by place.
I am an editor, essayist, and poet creating at the intersection of nature, place, and history. My work is rooted in the Midwest—where diverse ecologies persist in a fragmented landscape. As a 6th-generation inhabitant of the glacial-carved prairie pothole region of northern Iowa, my creative practice is heavily influenced by deep time, familial roots, and reckoning with a watershed radically reshaped by ongoing colonial forces. These entangled themes of fragmentation and resilience surface in poetry, prose, and collage as the fossilized remnants of Devonian sea life, dialogues with ancestors, and rearranged topographies. Furthermore, I carry these questions with me into my work as an editor for several journals, a workshop facilitator, and an Iowa Master Naturalist.
Photograph by Amee Ellis, 2023
Essays
"The Genomic Footprint of Coastal Uplift" (Flyway, Spring 2023). Digital.
Nominated for the Pushcart Prize and 2024 Best of the Net
"In Which Spring Makes An Appearance Once Again" (Awake in the World: Vol. 3, Riverfeet Press, 2023). Print.
"Terra Firma" (Midwest Review, 2020). Print.
"Via Negativa" (Relief Journal, 2021). Print.
"Meditation on Death: Postcard from Capitol Reef" (Cagibi Journal, 2021). Digital.
"Petroglyph Dreaming" (Tiny Seed Journal, 2021). Digital.
"Growing Kin: Voices from Mustard Seed Community Farm" (Rootstalk, 2022). Digital.
Editorial
Iowa Field Guides Volume I: Prairies (Mud Lake Press, 2026).
Stories of the Seasons: A WFAN Zine (Women, Food, and Agriculture Network, 2024). Print.
"Storymakers, All of Us" (Women, Food, and Agriculture Network, 2025). Digital.
Spectrum Literary Magazine (2017). Print.
Select Publications