HOMEMADE SHRINE is a collection of poems centered on themes of love and loss, the emotions evoked by memories, and the beauty found in everyday life. What inspired you to write this particular collection of poems?

HOMEMADE SHRINE has honestly been in production for over six years. It’s a collection of raw poems and journal pages that I’ve written in response to some impactful places, people and events throughout my life. I had toyed with what a full collection of these random writings would have looked like many times and I even still have a note on my phone laying out a far more epic version of the collection with over fifty poems sorted into twenty different chapters!

I sort of wanted it to document my early twenties and I wanted it to be an accurate as possible snapshot of each of these seminal feelings and moments in my life on a page where they could live forever and where they could connect with strangers in a way that no one was alone in life’s strange and sometimes confronting experiences. 

It’s also an ode – or shrine – to one prominent soul-shattering, high-art-inspiring, car-wreck relationship, as is very clear from the dedication page onwards…

Do you have a favorite poem in the book, and if so, why does it hold special meaning for you?

This is like forcing me to pick my favorite child in front of the others, incredibly difficult. But, strange as it is, I’d have to say Beer-Boleyn is my favorite. I don’t find it to be the most creative writing in the collection but it’s one of those poems that just radiates a certain time, place, feeling and a dream I had. It’s also funny. It’s making light of the downright ridiculous yet troubled and entirely complicated relationship it’s describing. It references cult weddings, home-wrecking, the execution of Anne Boleyn and the person you love drinking beer they originally detested possibly due to the unseen forces of one of your irrelevant dreams you’d have to pay them to listen to… Yes, it’s a bit of a wild ride. 

I find that last point particularly fascinating however, how dreams so often intertwine with a reality that you haven’t experienced fully yet and when dreams do come true in front of you it makes you feel special and like everything you’re currently doing – no matter how morally questionable or unhealthy – is a cosmic step in the right direction. These are just the places this poem takes me to…

Do you think there is a particular mindset or environment that a reader should be in to fully appreciate your work?

The reader should be ready to dive into this collection with some herbal tea (or some hard liquor), a pen and a mind ready for some serious introspection. So… it may not be the most “casual” read for many. The words are written so as to hook themselves and dig deep into heavy subjects and feelings. It also offers the reader the opportunity to participate with interactive prompts spread throughout. 

I do think there’s something for everyone in the collection, however. There’s eco-poetics, there’s addiction, there’s occult references, there’s sex, there’s pressed flowers and pinned butterflies, there’s complicated relationships… It’s all a personal experience for me and for whoever reads it as they can transform and transcend it with their own mindset, experiences, feelings, etc. 

Just don’t forget the pen…

What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?

My next project is still in its early stages of life but it’s frighteningly ambitious. It’ll be another collection of poetry but with some memoir passages, fictional and metaphorical short stories and even some horror elements mixed in… It contemplates escaping a darker past that feels like home into a much brighter present and future that feels so unfamiliar and strange but you ultimately know it’s a better place for you to be. 

I’m hoping to have it finished and looking for its inevitable home by the end of 2025, so stay tuned. 

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