“Among the Briars”

My original intent was to write this idea as a story. I even have a half-finished draft, 2500 words written in two stints separated by years; the problem was, I didn’t know where to go with it. I had a neat concept and no actual plot.

Which is why, when I began writing poetry, this was one of the first ideas to pipe up and say “maybe I’ll work better in that medium?” It was also my first foray into writing a villanelle, a form that people often find daunting because of its repeated lines . . . but in this case that dovetailed perfectly with the material, because it’s a poem about one would-be hero after another dying amid the brambles surrounding Sleeping Beauty’s castle.

It has found a home at The Rialto Books Review — my first sale to a literary market, and my first print poetry publication! It appeared in issue #27, which you can buy here.