My new poem “Rain at Waimea Falls” is part of the Happy Poems issue of Poemeleon.  I wrote this piece after a trip to Hawaii where we got caught in a warm downpour while visiting the titular waterfall. 

Ah, happy poems.  The more I’ve been researching poetry chapbooks in recent years, the more I’m struck by how many seem to center on trauma.  Maybe it’s just me.  But I love variety and range, and I figured my poetry should be no exception.  So why not tackle sheer pleasure, awe, joy for a change?  Not that there isn’t a need for darker topics and working our way toward healing.  But I was excited to see a call for happy poems and am pleased to be part of the themed issue. 

By the way, my friend Richard Leis has an absolute stunner of a Hawaiian waterfall poem, “How We Will Walk Through the Extremely Green,” in Harpy Hybrid Review.  Please go read that one, too!