A first collection of my poetry, Naming the Darkness, with an introduction by W. D. Snodgrass, was published by Road Publishers and my prize-winning second collection, Light Persists, was published by Tampa University Press. For much of my life I have been an advocate for poetry. In the past I reviewed poetry books for the Virginian-Pilot, edited poetry for the Ghent Quarterly, interviewed the likes of Maxine Kumin and Joseph Brodsky, and later co-founded the nonprofit arts organization and journal New Virginia Review. In addition, I have given presentations and conducted workshops for the International Society of Poetry, Writing Project at College of William & Mary, Tidewater Writing Project at Old Dominion University, and the Florida’s First Coast Writer’s Festival, to name a few. For several years I served as poet-in-the-schools and visiting poet throughout Virginia before assuming a sixteen-year position as English and creative writing teacher at Norview High School in Norfolk, Virginia. For the past ten years I have conducted summer and after-school writing workshops with middle school students in the Norfolk Public School System. Previously, I served as poetry editor for the Ghent Quarterly and Lady Jane’s Miscellany. My chapbook "On the Corner of Yesterday" appeared from Pudding House Publications in 2010. "The Long Life" won the Poetica Publishing Chapbook Award 2011 and was published in 2012. My new full-length collection of poetry, "The Red Coat," has been accepted by FutureCycle Press and will appear in 2013.