Creative Writing Samples
A collection of poetry and short stories based on personal experiences, folklore, and family history.
01
Reef Sharks
Winner of the 2023 Louis Darrell Sage Poetry Prize, and published to www.poets.org by the Academy of American Poets. I originally wrote "Reef Sharks" for a creative writing class, based on my experiences as an autistic individual discovering community and joy among others like me. Also I'm really obsessed with learning about marine biology in my spare time.
02
Grave Robber
I've always been fascinated by vampires, their historical lore, pop culture influence, and the fears they represent through time. "Grave Robber" is a short story I wrote based on The New England Vampire Panic, a reaction to an outbreak of tuberculosis in rural New England villages during the 18th-19th centuries. "Grave Robber" was published by the George Street Press in May 2024, but a PDF for the updated version is linked here.
03
Mourning Haze
In an Advanced Composition class, many moons ago, we were assigned to research our family history and write a short story based on a specific event. "Mourning Haze" is a fictionalized retelling of a relative's sudden death, inspired by an interview I conducted with a distant cousin, and blending it with my own experiences with grief and derealization. I do not plan on formally publishing this piece due to how personal it is, but a PDF copy can be found here.