Fierce Delight: Poems of Early Motherhood

Here are the worry and the fierce delight, the 3 AM wake-ups and the floor strewn with Cheerios. These poems read like snapshots, freeze-framing days that feel both fleeting and unending, even while the rest of the poet’s life hums in the background, waiting for its turn to thrive.

Buy it directly from North Star Press here or wherever books are sold.

This Ground Beneath Our Feet

Gathered from nearly 20 years of writing, the poems in “This Ground Beneath Our Feet” sail from the Atlantic crossings of Bright’s ancestors to the forests of New England, to the Mississippi River Valley, to the world contained within a neighborhood backyard. Over and over, through offers of food and a listening ear, connections form across distances. Strangers find common ground. These poems capture scenes with lyrical precision: Emily Dickinson shares homemade cake; a dawn house fire sends neighbors tapping at the window for help; a family gathers for a loved one’s final hours. In other snapshots from the collection, a stranger guides the lost poet through the streets of Togo’s capital city. These are poems that delight in the natural world, even in wildflowers tucked next to buildings. Written with the intimacy of Bright’s first collection, Fierce Delight: Poems of Early Motherhood, these poems ask, “What seeds are we planting for the future?”

forthcoming April 14, 2026 from Holy Cow! Press

Powerful Ideas in Teaching

True learning—the kind that stays with students long after the grades are in—requires risk. Ownership. Change. But what does it look like for students to really understand your subject? How can you structure assignments so that Googling becomes an asset, not a threat, to demonstrating knowledge?  Real-life classroom examples demonstrate how you can shift the drive for learning into students’ hands—while still meeting your learning benchmarks. From making assignments meaningful to students to assessing the results, Powerful Ideas in Teaching explores key ideas for creating environments where students want to learn. Click here to read a Table of Contents.You'll notice that my name's a bit different here, but it's still me.

My co-author, Dr. Mickey Kolis, is one of the most dynamic teachers I know. He taught middle and high school science for 18 years and is currently an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.