I’m so grateful for the beautiful insights and thoughtful words from fellow poet Kristiane Weeks-Rogers in her review of my most recent poetry book A Godless Ascends published by Lithic Press in March.  As always, tremendous thanks to Tinderbox Poetry Journal for their generous support over the years and for publishing the review!

Kristiane Weeks-Rogers (she/her) is a Poet-Writer living in western Colorado. She is the Managing Editor of Small Harbor Publishing. Her debut poetry collection, Self-Anointment with Lemons released in September 2021 by Finishing Line Press. She is the 2nd place winner of Casa Cultural de las Americas and University of Houston’s inaugural Poetic Bridges contest and author of the chap collection Become Skeletons published by the University of Houston in 2018. She grew up around Lake Michigan and earned her higher education degrees in Florida (Flagler College) and Indiana (Indiana University). She earned her MFA at Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics in Boulder, Colorado.

It was such a pleasure to read the review and see how well Kristiane interpreted and understood the work my perspective as a poet. In other words, she gets me. Here’s an excerpt:

“The opening poem ‘SHE-GOD,’ sets the tone for the entire collection, depicting the poet’s own birth and the intense experience of being brought into the world to create identity: ‘a whole being godless / —she birthed two / no three— / if she chooses to / count herself / & she does.’ The dichotomy between the she-god being godless – with the concept of ascension in the collection – implies action towards a higher state of consciousness, an elevation of thought and perception beyond the confines of predefined belief systems. It’s an invitation to transcend the limitations imposed by conventional notions of godliness and create possibilities of ascension.”

Read the complete review here.

You can order A Godless Ascends:

• Direct from Lithic Press (free shipping);
• or if you’d like a signed copy with a bookmark, contact me here.

“Like the screech owl, Trish Hopkinson’s work hardens itself in order to keep its insides soft. There’s a Plathian urgency to these poems, reminding us that memory has taste buds, ancestry is complicated and life, like poetry, is grounded in physicality.” –Wendy Videlock, author of Wise to the West

Sample poems:

• Nocturne to Uterus – The Gravity of the Thing
• Uprooted – Cultural Daily, finalist for the 2021 Jack Grape Poetry Prize
• Dragonfly Daughter – Literary Mama (+Pushcart prize nomination)
• Resurrection Party – Voicemail Poems

If you’re interested in attending a reading, I’ll be featuring at several events in Colorado, Utah, and virtually. For information on upcoming events, see my Reading & Events page. I’ll update it as more events are scheduled.

For more information on how to publish book reviews, see my article on 50+ Lit Mags for Book Reviews & Author Interviews.

Tinderbox is a paying market currently open for tip jar submissions, but watch for their FEE FREE months to send in your work (or send them a tip!) “The money raised in the donation-only submission months will go towards standard expenses a journal incurs: Submittable fees, website fees, promotional fees. We remain a volunteer-run journal, and we appreciate your help in keeping us in print. (Please note that Submittable only allow us 200 fee-free submissions within a month, so if we reach this limit anytime within the month, the fee-free submissions will close automatically. Please submit early in the fee-free months.)” You can read more about them in my interview and in their submission guidelines.

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