Professional Appointments

04/2026 to Present

Section Editor/Curator

Better Than Starbucks Poetry and Fiction Journal

Tucson, AZ

08/2025 to Present

Adjunct Professor

Wagner College

Staten Island, NY

09/2021 to 01/2023

Writing Tutor

New York City College of Technology (City University of New York)

Brooklyn, NY

09/2011 to 06/2021

Online Instructor

GeniusWeb, LLC

Portland, OR

Education

2020-2023

Southern New Hampshire University

M.A. in English and Creative Writing – Poetry

GPA: 3.862

2013-2015

The New School for Public Engagement

Certificate in Creative Arts Therapy

2001-2004

New York City College of Technology

B.Tech in Communications Design

1999-2001

New York City Technical College

A.A.S. in Art and Advertising Design

Courses Taught

Wagner College

EN 101: College English

As part of the curriculum, students learned about effective writing techniques. Close attention was placed on grammar and the use of rhetorical devices. Lessons included sentence structure, narration, persuasive writing, critical reading, and writing to inform. Many of the exercises in this class were based on public speaking requirements in the educational organization, Toastmasters International.

EN 205: Crime and Violence in 18th Century Literature

As part of the curriculum, the material covered includes poetry and prose centered around the commonplace satire and political overtones of the 1700s. Lessons center around the reading of works such as The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift. Material from the class is also related to current events and the current political state in the USA.

New York City College of Technology

As part of the writing center, I provided one-on-one tutoring to students who needed assistance with their class essay assignments. Essays ranged from basic English composition to legal documents. Additionally, I conducted workshops for students related to MLA citation and sentence structure. This position as a writing center tutor served as a means of not only teaching students how to be better writers, but as a form of mentorship.

GeniusWeb, L.L.C. DBA DarkPoetry College

POE 101: The Language of Poetry

This was an online class that was offered by the now defunct website, DarkPoetry.org. Students learned how to effectively use poetic devices. These included metaphors, similes, enjambment, alliteration, assonance, and meter. Over twenty students graduated after taking this ten week course.

Poetry in Motion

During this workshop, I invited poets to expand their creativity by way of riding the Staten Island Railway. This was based on an Oulipo exercise called Métro. Participants on different parts of a train were instructed to write poetry on the train with a twist. While the train is in motion, writers needed to think about what they wanted to write. It was only when the train entered a station that writers could start writing. We later converged at Tottenville to livestream our results.

South Beach Psychiatric Center

During the hospital’s monthly Wellness Day activities, I led a poetry writing workshop for the clientele. These were prompts based on different wellness activities. Many of these were collaborative exercises such as The Exquisite Corpse. This is and exercise in which participants collaborate on a poem while only seeing the lines written by the previous writer. Additionally, I led a poetry reading workshop in which the clients read original poetry as well as poetry books provided by staff.

Books

Tuesday Night Beats (co-authored with Douglas G. Cala) (Like a blot from the blue, 2025), WTF: Writing Through Fascism (Bainbridge Island Press, 2024), Grimoire (iiPublishing, 2021), Seance (Cyberwit.net, 2020), Art Therapy 101 (Cyberwit.net, 2019), …and the willow smiled (Cyberwit.net, 2019), Tobias (KoA Media, 2016), Never Lick the Spoon (2015), Serotonin Seas (Infinity Publishing, 2005).

Journals

American University of Iraq-Sulaimani, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, ANTÆ Journal, Anti-Heroin Chic, Boston Literary Magazine, Breadcrumbs Mag, CCAR Journal, di-verse-city (Austin International Poetry Festival), Eskimo Pie, Eunoia Review, First Literary Review-East, Fowl Feathered Review, Flora Fiction, Global Poemic: Kindred Voices on the Era of COVID-19, Golden Walkman Magazine, Haiku Journal, Home Planet News, In Between Hangovers, Kelp Journal, Last Stanza Poetry Journal, Masticadores Taiwan, New York City Voices, Nine Cloud Journal, NYSAI Press, Pangolin Review, POST(blank), Quail Bell, Rat’s Ass Review, Scarlet Dragonfly Journal, Scifaikuest, Soup Can Magazine, Sparks of Calliope, Stanza Cannon, Taj Mahal Review, The Rising Phoenix Review, The Penmen Review, Third Rail, Tokyo Poetry Journal, Verse-Virtual, Yawp

Anthologies

New Generation Beats 2025 (National Beat Poetry Foundation, 2025)New Generation Beats 2024 (National Beat Poetry Foundation, 2024), New Generation Beats 2023 (National Beat Poetry Foundation, 2023), Insurrection (Gnashing Teeth Publishing, 2021), From the Soil: A Hometown Anthology (Exeter Publishing, 2020), Hope: An Anthology of Poetry (CultureCult Press, 2020), The Revolution (KoA Media, 2019), flight (Nightingale & Sparrow, 2019), Heat the Grease, We’re Frying Up Some Poetry (Gnashing Teeth Publishing, 2019), Nasty Women & Bad Hombres (Lascaux Review, 2017), Trails Through the Greenbelt (Infinity Publishing, 2008)

Performances

New York City Poetry Festival (2025), New York City Poetry Festival (2024), Phoenix Poetry Open Mic (2023), Noble Quills Open Mic (2023), Asbury Park Roastery (2022), Brooklyn Wildlife Summer Festival (2022), New York City Poetry Festival (2022), New York City Poetry Festival (2021), Recovery Poetry (2021), Overdose Awareness Day (2020), New York City Poetry Festival (2018), Queer Nerd Poetics (2018), Staten Island Showcase (2018) Brooklyn Wildlife Summer Festival (2016)

Awards

First Prize in Poetry, City Tech Literary Arts Festival (2004)

First Prize, No Limits Toastmasters Poetry Reading Contest (2009)

First Prize, Fresh Kills Haiku Contest (Parks Department) (2014)

Nomination: Pushcart Prize in Poetry (“Lottery”) (2024)

Nomination: Best of the Net (“Reflecting Clarity”) (2025)