When I told my friends and family that I was teaching literature in a jail, their reactions were largely predictable.

Over white walls
the warm lamp glows
roams
falls softly against the rug
and me.

Ici repose Colette:
Je vous remercie Madame
pour avoir été une femme
formidable, avant la lettre.

Yes, you read that right! A “28”-year-old graduate student at Georgetown University made a shocking discovery this week at the university library.

Our trip to the glorious city of Florence got off to a bumpy start when we realized that our bus, which we thought left at 2pm on a Sunday afternoon, was in fact scheduled to depart at 2am!

Palms stretched wide, these men offer me faith like a marble, a colorful promise trapped in glass.

Going to grad school is all the rage these days.

We’ve just come home from a lovely little corner of Italy called Cinque Terre.

“Yes, hello. Euhhhh… my name is ValentinJeanPierreAntoine. I have, euhhh, fifty - no - fifteen years old.

There are 27 different regions in France that are somewhat comparable to counties in America. In 2012 I lived in Montpellier, in the region of Languedoc-Roussillon, also known as the wine region. I’m currently living in a region in the southeast of France called the Var, close to the Mediterranean Sea. While we don’t live on the waterfront (or in a van, down by the river), there are a lot of enriching activities to do in this area.

I wonder how much space is left
in the cemeteries we used to wander,
their mausoleums a respite
for the bored and restless.

A blurred outline
asks for my calculator
in chemistry class.
You were cool, so
my name always sounded
like an insult
in your mouth.

En ville, j’ai l’impression d’être si petite que le monde m’ignore quand je quitte, enfin, l’appartement. En ville, je m’habille lentement avec modestie, ce qui n’est pas typique. Je réfléchis avant de mettre la robe si chic que j’ai fièrement achetée. En ville, je me trouve seule, aliénée ; je veux être protectrice de ma liberté, mais « Eh ! fille, je veux te baiser ! » vient de me déstabiliser.

My mother has a tree in the yard she calls her electric bee tree.
She hovers around it, flits from the pink dahlias to the English roses
to the black-eyed susans that run wild along the fence.