Allyson

The Best of It: Six More Weeks of Winter Edition

Making Room for New Words

While the details are still in progress, I’m excited to announce that I plan to release two new chapbooks in 2023! One will be a self-published collection of free verse, and the other will be my first haiku collection published by Cuttlefish Books, a small press out of my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. Both chapbooksContinue reading “Making Room for New Words”

The Best of It: Mostly About the Food Edition

New Year, New Home

In the season finale of the Culinary Saijiki podcast, I talked with Mark Scott of Naturalist Weekly, which was one of my favorite blogs of 2022. In the conversation, I had the idea of spending 2023 investigating the micro-seasons around me. I decided that since I wanted to find a way to write more consistentlyContinue reading “New Year, New Home”

The Best of It: Christmas Eve Edition

Some Terribly Sentimental Thing

This was one of the last poems I wrote before COVID. I composed it on December 24th, 2019. It previously appeared in the 2020 Poetry at Round Top Anthology. I chose to post it tonight because I’m missing three poetry friends who have died in the past few years, as well as my grandfathers, whoContinue reading “Some Terribly Sentimental Thing”

The Best of It: St. Louis Adventures Edition

Where I Ate Before Leaving Austin

I move to the St. Louis area this past June. For the final four-and-a-half months, I chronicled the restaurants, coffee shops, parks, and stores I loved, as I visited them for the last time. I posted these under the hashtag #texasfarewelltour on Instagram. One poetry friend from San Antonio commented on a restaurant post thatContinue reading “Where I Ate Before Leaving Austin”

The Best of It: After a Hiatus Edition

Having a phone with portrait mode Patrizi’s Italian Restaurant Getting to have the Salt Lick experience before I leave Finding a barely-used Krups waffle maker for $10 at the thrift store Outdoor poetry gatherings

Introducing the Culinary Saijiki

As they say in the current parlance, it’s been a minute. Last summer, after the writing intensive I was part of wrapped up, I just felt a need to stop. Stop pushing, stop trying so hard. Just be quiet and see what happens. And quite a bit happened. I earned my Level 1 comprehensive teacherContinue reading “Introducing the Culinary Saijiki”