Elated to announce that Crab Orchard Review has accepted my poem “Lucky Ones” for their special issue, “20 Years: Writing About 1995-2015.” Crab Orchard Review was the first journal I ever submitted to when I was 19, so it is a really big deal for me, 11 years later, to know I will soon appear in their pages.

The poem is about the 276 girls who were kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the title is a sort of irony referring to those who were able to escape, but will still spend the rest of their lives scarred. For those of you wondering, I wrote this poem well before meeting Vashti at the Winter Poetry and Prose Getaway, but did show it to her. She said it was like I was there, which meant a great deal to me, as I did a lot of research and invested much of my heart and time into writing the poem.

When I wrote it originally, it was in many couplets, and had a very neat and tidy order on the page. I meant this to provide a contrast to the chaos it was describing, but when poet Leonard Gontarek was reviewing it, he suggested trying these longer, more unwieldy lines, and that is its present incarnation, one I am much more pleased with. I am learning to be less clever and analytical in the construction of my writing through working with him.

I am very glad that it was picked up, as it is one of my favorite poems I have ever written, and I couldn’t think of a better place for it to find a home.