Landmarks & Beacons (poems)

A collection of poetry examining the smallest details, where we have been, and where we are going.

Landmarks & Beacons is divided into ten six-poem sections, each broadly representing a different life stage, period, or larger milestone era or experience. The poems in the collection were written over the course of more than 20 years, and touch on parentage, friendship, trauma, work, pregnancy and motherhood, the pandemic, and more.

The things that shape us, driving us down different pathways, influencing who we are and what we think, defining our choices and personalities, may be large and obvious, but are often exceedingly small, and may even be invisible or unfathomable. What we can recall of our personal history is minute and constantly diminishing — single words or phrases, the smell of a particular location, an incidence of weather. Even when we believe we remember or understand such things well, import may not be apparent until long after the fact, if ever.

Written in a conversational, modern poetic style, Landmarks & Beacons looks at relatable personal transformation. It is an average person’s attempt to excavate, understand, take meaning from, and ultimately release the past in service of the future.