"Every June," "Seen," and "Tranquil"

Poems published by La Piccioletta Barca

I’m honored to share that three of my sijo, “Every June,” “Seen,” and “Tranquil,” were published online today by La Piccioletta Barca. I’m deeply thankful to the editors for the selection!

I cherish my memories of the autumn months I spent in South Korea, so it seems fitting to have my sijo published in the month of October.

Sijo is a form on which I’ve been helplessly fixated for a while. Lucy Park writes in the outstanding reference book, SIJO: Korea’s Poetry Form:

“The sijo has proven itself to be not only an interesting form of poetry but a window into an often-overlooked culture. Given sijo’s great accessibility to newcomers and value for creative writers, we hope that we —and others— are able to fully explore its potential in the coming years, not only among Korean or English speakers, but also among people speaking other languages.”

I hope to have a tiny part in drawing attention to this beautiful, compressed, deeply emotional form and the rich culture from which it originated.

I’ll always treasure the fact that my dear friend Barry prayed over my poetry before our most recent writing group meeting. What a personal answer to prayer it is to have my poems published by an arts journal for the first time. We are all precious to God, and I’m blessed to walk the vulnerable writing life alongside such a supportive group as The Grove.

Thank you for reading!

Near Gyeongju, S Korea