The Zingara Project

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  • The Youngest Who Shall Remain Unnamed

    The Youngest Who Shall Remain Unnamed

    We adopted the youngest of our two cats at the beginning of the pandemic, which makes her a little over five years old now, from a person who’d rescued her from the streets and took her and her litter mates to the vet for basic care, like immunizations and spay/neuter.

    Because of the youngest’s “colony cat” status, the vet who spayed her also clipped her ear to make it easy to know right away that she’d been fixed and wouldn’t be recaptured should she ever find herself on the streets again, which I plan to prevent to all costs.

    Youngest’s claws also happen to be incredibly long and sharp, earning her the affectionate designation of tough little street cat and survivor, though she is as sweet and cuddly as a bunny in a basket.

    I mean, I’ve never seen claws like these!

    One time, when we had the vet trim her claws, she skulked and hid for two days. We felt like bad cat-parents for traumatizing her like that and vowed never to put her through that again.

    Though it’s never intentional on survivor cat’s part, G and I have sustained more than a few impressively deep scratches when she’s leapt from our arms or laps to chase a shadow or tackle a can of wet cat food.

    Which is why we keep lots of Neosporin and Bandaids in the house.

  • Calling For Frost

    Calling For Frost

    When the weather is particularly nice in the spring and summer and I can hardly keep myself indoors, writing and knitting give way to outdoor interests and the creative joy of yard work.

    Though the yard where I live now is modest compared to my last two properties, each of which sat on nearly a half an acre of land, and the growing season here is shorter than anywhere I’ve lived before, the temperatures more variable, the seasons more distinct, I still find ways to fit gardening into my life.

    In the spring, there was the delightful, hopeful work of landscaping the bed along the front walk where I planted a couple of hosta lilies, three knock-out rose bushes, a couple of lavender plants, two Astilbe, and a lung wort plant. I then added mulch to keep things moist and weed resistant.

    I also hung a number of potted petunias, impatiens and a couple of Boston ferns on shepherd hooks across the front of the house to enhance the what I had planted in the garden beds and also add a little privacy around the window. .

    On the back deck out of reach of dear, I planted a few container tomato plants and nurtured them along with attention, water, and organic supplements. I traveled at exactly the wrong times, so they grew tall and lanky, yet they still produced about a dozen delicious if oddly-shaped fruit. I can just imagine how much better they will do next year if I am more attentive.

    Fungus and blight became the main concern during the hot, wet summer (and this year was wet indeed) as was creating shade for the tomatoes on the deck.

    Other than that, there was a lot more sitting in the shade or the air conditioned house (more writing and knitting.)

    This fall brought a drought so even though the growing season was winding down I found myself out in the yard watering the hydrangeas and the elephant ears I’d planted in late June to keep them all from giving up entirely in the dry heat.

    November calls for trimming trees and shrubs, raking copious leaves and getting them to the curb for the street cleaners and, here in Northern Appalachia (a new environment for me), planting bulbs, hilling rose bushes, and mulching the heck out of delicate perennials to protect them from impending winter cold.

    The news of the season’s first frost sent me back out into the yard today after I returned home from teaching to bring in all the “free range” house plants I’d set around the sidewalk and the Boston Ferns hanging on the shepherd’s hooks are transitioning on the screened porch.

  • Missives of Publication: Flint & Fire Enters the World

    Missives of Publication: Flint & Fire Enters the World

    On July 31, 2018, I received notice that my first book of poems, Flint & Fire, had been selected for publication.

    Mind you, this was after earning a Masters in English, a Master in Fine Arts, and sending the collection out to a dozen or more open reading periods and contests over a number of year.

    Admittedly, I struggled with feelings of low self-esteem during those years (which still plagues me at times) and was timid about sending out work, which needlessly slowed the entire process, yet I still felt overlooked each time a friend or colleague won a book award or landed a book publication.

    When the notice came, I was a astounded that the struggle had finally come to a close, and equally excited. I wanted very much to call my mother to tell her the news, but she had passed away the week before.

    So, though my search for a publisher had come to a close, the process of culling through the poems and revising, reordering, and editing what remained had just begun–as had grieving for my mother.

    Dear Lisa,

    I am delighted to inform you that Jericho Brown has chosen Flint and Fire for publication by The Word Works in this year’s HiIary Tham Capital Collection. Congratulations! I’m editor for the series. I too really loved this manuscript, especially for its geographical and emotional range, for it’s voice, and for its moving engagement with the meaning of devotion to people and place.

    My first question is this: is the manuscript still available? If it is, and if you accept this offer of publication, we will send a contract by email and get the publication process underway. Our publication timeline (a question all authors have) is dependent on the length of the editing process, but our goal is to have the book ready for AWP (Late March in 2019) in Portland, Oregon. The Word Works will have a booth and a good presence there. 

    As a final note, should you accept this offer of publication, we will be informing all our submitters for this year in the next week, so if you wouldn’t mind waiting until we’ve done so to announce the good news far and wide, we would very much appreciate it!

    I’m currently traveling, but I will be available by both email and phone for any questions. I can be reached at ************, or at *************. Would you also send us your phone number? We don’t seem to have it as part of your application file. 

    Many congratulations! Jericho is writing a blurb for each poet, and I will share yours with you as soon as he sends it.

  • Knit What Now?

    A highway patrol officer tried to pull over a speeding car on the interstate, but the car wouldn’t stop. He pulled alongside the car and was astounded to see that the old woman behind the wheel was knitting, completely oblivious to the patrol car’s flashing lights and siren. The officer shouted over his loudspeaker, “Pull Over!”

    “No,” the old lady yelled back, “it’s a scarf!”

  • Great Waves

    In the early days of the Meiji era there lived a well-known wrestler called O-nami, Great Waves.

    O-nami was immensely strong and knew the art of wrestling. In his private bouts he defeated even his teacher, but in public he was so bashful that his own pupils threw him.

    O-nami felt he should go to a Zen master for help. Hakuju, wandering teacher, was stopping in a little temple nearby, so O-nami went to see him and told him of his trouble.

    “Great Waves is your name,” the teacher advised, “so stay in this temple tonight. Imagine that you are those billows. You are no longer a wrestler who is afraid. You are those huge waves sweeping everything before them, swallowing all in their path. Do this and you will be the greatest wrestler in the land.”

    The teacher retired. O-nami sat in meditation trying to imagine himself as waves. He thought of many different things. Then gradually he turned more and more to the feeling of the waves. As the night advanced the waves became larger and larger. They swept away the flowers in their vases. Even the Buddha in the shrine was inundated. Before dawn the temple was nothing but the ebb and flow of an immense sea.

    In the morning the teacher found O-nami meditating, a faint smile on his face. He patted the wrestler’s should. “Now nothing can disturb you,” he said. “You are those waves. You will sweep everything before you.”

    The same day O-nami entered the wrestling contests and won. After that, no one in Japan was able to defeat him.

    From Zen Flesh Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings compiled by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki

  • Bad Mouth, Good Friends

    Bad Mouth, Good Friends

    My and Gary’s reading for Rebecca Aronson’s Bad Mouth Poetry Series in Albuquerque, New Mexico on September 6, 2025 at the Q Staff Theater was a long time in the making.

    We used to live in Albuquerque but relocated to Charleston, SC in July 2013 when Gary was hired as an Assistant Professor at the College of Charleston (and I was later hired as an adjunct) thus bringing to close my third and Gary’s second stint living in our favorite city so far.

    Though I should not have been, I was surprised by how overwhelmed with emotion I became the moment I stepped off the plane. The mesa, the mountains, the endless sky, that particular ineffable light that I’ve only experienced in Albuquerque, all brought back a rush of deeply seated memories of my early childhood years. Having not been back to New Mexico since my mother’s passing in 2018, those past moments popped up like so many perky roadrunners alert to to every scampering lizard.

    Anyway, we were delighted to read with our dear friend Christina Socorro Yovovich, whom we’d read with in at the UNM bookstore for National Poetry Month in 2008 (we think) and to have with us the talented musician Keith Brunstein.

    If you ever get a chance to read for Bad Mouth, you should totally do it. The Q Staff venue is exceptional — theater style raised seating, great acoustics, and a darkened interior to contrast with the enchantingly hot, bright sun of the high desert. And there is plenty of room in the foyer for social gathering and book signing.

    Many of our dearest friends and chosen family came out to exchange warm, genuine embraces, touch on recent griefs as a gesture of kinship, and share heartfelt anecdotes as a way to remove the sting from our collective recent troubles.

    I honestly couldn’t see leaving again, except that, well, I am building a good life here in Pittsburgh where new friends embrace me with the same level of warmth as those in Burque and the literary community appears to have plenty of room for newcomers — and outsiders — like me.

    Invitations for more readings have us making concrete plans to return to Albuquerque with more frequency and the many requests for virtual meetings and classroom visits will ensure our attentions are not so easily distracted from our Southwestern home this time.

    We’ll be back soon, Albuquerque. As soon as we can.

  • Writing on the Fly

    Writing on the Fly

    It’s not often that a confluence of time, space, energy, and opportunity converge to create an ideal environment for writing. But just such a convergence did occur Friday afternoon, September 12, at the Pitt Writing Center with the workshop “Poetry in Everyday Stories: Celebrating the Empathy of Ed Ochester” facilitated by Pittsburgh’s rock star poet, Jan Beatty.

    As facilitator, Beatty expounded the power of nuance and understatement, the efficacy of concrete detail, and the vibrancy of dialogue. Using the brilliant work of Ed Ochester as model and illustration, she also emphasized the role of witness, empathy, and relationship in creating great poetry.

    We looked at Ochester’s “This Poem is for Margaret” and “Mary Mihalik” and drew from them inspiration for the series of writing prompts Beatty next led us through as we held in mind people we know or had recently engaged with in our everyday lives, noting that “there is great humainity in the people and the situations we run into every day, and that often these small meetings go unspoken.”

    Encouraging empathy with each progressive step toward a completed poem draft, Beatty suggested the utilization of direct address, such as that used in “This Poem is for Margaret” and stories from our past or our community’s past, such as is used in “Mary Mihalik.”

    For the first poem prompt I wrote about my encounter with an angry man at the garage who yelled at me because of where I’d parked my car and for the second prompt I wrote about a favorite aunt.

    Participants were completely absorbed in their writing and clearly enjoyed the experience. Many also generously shared their responses with the group when asked. I came away feeling encouraged and looking forward to developing the drafts I’d begun.

    Preciously what a workshop should do.

  • XLV As imperceptibly as grief

    XLV As imperceptibly as grief

    Emily Dickinson

    As imperceptibly as grief
    The summer lapsed away,--
    Too imperceptible, at last, 
    To seem like perfody. 

    A quietness distilled,
    As twilight long begun, 
    Or Nature, spending with herself
    Sequestered afternoon.

    The dusk drew earlier in,
    The morning foreign shone,--
    A courteous, yet harrowing grace,
    As guest who would be gone.

    And thus, without a wing,
    Or service of a keel,
    Our summer made her light escape
    Into the beautiful.

  • Post Solstice Academics and Poem Acceptance

    Having a featured poem on Vox Populi this Saturday morning, belonging to late 2025 is a wonderful benchmark and a real acknowledgement of my continued integration into the Pittsburgh literary community.

    Thanks to friend Ruth E. Hendricks for the connection and to editor Michael Simms for choosing “Post Solstice Academics” for today’s poem!

    Now, back to grading papers!

    Lisa M. Hase-Jackson: Post Solstice Academics
  • Pens and Needles

    Pens and Needles

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  • Lunch Between Poets

    Lunch Between Poets

    Among the number of talented, well-known poets that the University of Pittsburgh Press brought in from around the country this weekend to celebrate the life and work of former editor, Ed Ochester, was the poet Denise Duhamel, my mentor turned friend and colleague.

    Like most people who encounter her, I sort of fell in love with Denise’s warm energy and enthusiasm right off the bat. She was my faculty mentor for two out of four semesters at Converse University, but we continued our interactions well beyond the workshop arena. She’s oh so sharp when it comes to poetry and I grew tremendously as a result of working with her, not just in my writing, but in my confidence as a poet and in learning how to navigate the “poe-biz” (poetry business).

    We had been emailing each other about her Pittsburgh visit since sometime early last year, so had plenty of time to make plans, and to build anticipation for our reunion — despite knowing it would be brief and filled with other obligations.

    We caught up over lunch yesterday and shared news we most wanted from one another: how is the job, the partner, the writing, the next book, have you heard/seen ______? what’s happening with ______ , how are you navigating the current political climate?

    It was an easy back and forth, as it always is — a gentle re-centering, a moment to celebrate successes with someone how cares, to commiserate common or respective griefs with someone who understands. And, for me, a moment to take stock of how far I’ve come in my chosen life and career as a poet.

  • Albuquerque Homecoming

    Albuquerque Homecoming

    They didn’t have to throw a parade for G and me. I thought that was awful nice though. Saying it was for the state fair was a good cover. keeps us humble.

    Rockin the drolics

  • List of Submission Deadlines

    This is a suggested timeline just to give the project some structure and motivate those of you who work best with a deadline.

    Poems for April 1-6 prompts are due August 31, 2025:

    Poems for April 7-12 prompt are due September 30, 2025:

    Poems for April 13-18 prompts are due October 31, 2025:

    Poems for April 19-24 prompts are due November 30, 2025:

    Poems for April 25-30 prompts are due December 33, 2025:

    Full Submission Guidelines

    2026 Editorial Calendar

    PromptDue DatePub Date Range
    April 1: Journal MiningAug. 31Jan. 1-11
    April 2: ProtectionAug. 31Jan. 12-23
    April 3: BeginningsAug. 31Jan. 24-Feb 4
    April 4: Whispers of WorkAug. 31Feb. 5-16
    April 5: Absences UnfoldedAug. 31Feb. 17-28
    April 6: TransformationAug. 31Mar. 1-11
    April 7: HumorSept. 30Mar. 12-23
    April 8: UtteranceSept. 30Mar. 24-Apr. 4
    April 9: ContradictionsSept. 30Apr. 4-16
    April 10: Game OnSept. 30Apr. 17-28
    April 11: Collect, Remix, RepeatSept. 30Apr. 29-May 10
    April 12: Pro-prose-alSept. 30May 11-22
    April 13: What You Leave BehindOct. 31May 23-Jun 3
    April 14: The Thin VeilOct. 31Jun 4-15
    April 15: EyesoreOct. 31Jun 16-27
    April 16: ApocryphalOct. 31Jun 28-July 9
    April 17: 17 SyllablesOct. 31July 10-21
    April 18: ElementalOct. 31July 22-July 31
    April 19: Chance ItNov. 31Aug. 1-11
    April 20: Temp-oralityNov. 31Aug. 12-23
    April 21: Focus PromptNov. 31Aug. 24-Sept. 4
    April 22: Intangible InheritanceNov. 31Sept. 5-16
    April 23: By Any Other NameNov. 31Sept. 17-28
    April 24: Hands OnNov. 31Sept. 29-Oct. 10
    April 25: In TuneNov. 31Oct. 11-22
    April 26: Not the Kind You FlipDec. 31Oct. 23-31
    April 27: Top of the MorningDec. 31Nov. 1-11
    April 28: Child’s PlayDec. 31Nov. 11-22
    April 29: Endings that Shape UsDec. 31Nov. 23-Dec. 3
    April 30: Course and MethodDec. 31Dec. 3-14
    Revision PromptsDec. 31Dec. 15-31

  • Accepting Poems!

    The Zingara Poetry Project celebration of prompts continues. Please send poems for the following prompts by September 30, 2025:

    While I have several nice poems to represent prompts posted during tose first week of April, I am still accepting submissions for the following categories:

    I’m asking poets to send 1-2 previously unpublished poems inspired by these prompts in the body of an email to ZingaraPoet(at)gmail.com with the NAME OF THE PROMPT included in the subject line. (Replace the (at) with @)

    Please also include a few sentences about your writing process (how you got from prompt to final draft) in your email, including any of the revision prompts that helped you along the way (if you used one). I want to know about why you made the choices you made. If even one line, image, or theme from your original draft appears in the final version, it qualifies for this challenge.

    Feel free to include an image to accompany your poem.

    Poems may be overtly related to any of the prompts, or have only a thread of connection. If you wrote a poem in response to a prompt and threw out all but one line during revision, that counts. Surprising is preferred to the predictable.

    Include a brief professional biography of 50 words or fewer, also in the body of your email.

    Simultaneous submissions are fine, just please let me know immediately if submitted work is accepted elsewhere.

    Revision Prompts

    Be Kind, Rewind

    Stanza Is Another Name for Room

    Find Your Rhythm

    Submission Guidelines

    2026 Editorial Calendar with Due Dates and Publication Ranges

    PromptDue DatePub Date Range
    April 1: Journal MiningAug. 31Jan. 1-11
    April 2: ProtectionAug. 31Jan. 12-23
    April 3: BeginningsAug. 31Jan. 24-Feb 4
    April 4: Whispers of WorkAug. 31Feb. 5-16
    April 5: Absences UnfoldedAug. 31Feb. 17-28
    April 6: TransformationAug. 31Mar. 1-11
    April 7: HumorSept. 30Mar. 12-23
    April 8: UtteranceSept. 30Mar. 24-Apr. 4
    April 9: ContradictionsSept. 30Apr. 4-16
    April 10: Game OnSept. 30Apr. 17-28
    April 11: Collect, Remix, RepeatSept. 30Apr. 29-May 10
    April 12: Pro-prose-alSept. 30May 11-22
    April 13: What You Leave BehindOct. 31May 23-Jun 3
    April 14: The Thin VeilOct. 31Jun 4-15
    April 15: EyesoreOct. 31Jun 16-27
    April 16: ApocryphalOct. 31Jun 28-July 9
    April 17: 17 SyllablesOct. 31July 10-21
    April 18: ElementalOct. 31July 22-July 31
    April 19: Chance ItNov. 31Aug. 1-11­
    April 20: Temp-oralityNov. 31Aug. 12-23
    April 21: Focus PromptNov. 31Aug. 24-Sept. 4
    April 22: Intangible InheritanceNov. 31Sept. 5-16
    April 23: By Any Other NameNov. 31Sept. 17-28
    April 24: Hands OnNov. 31Sept. 29-Oct. 10
    April 25: In TuneNov. 31Oct. 11-22
    April 26: Not the Kind You FlipDec. 31Oct. 23-31
    April 27: Top of the MorningDec. 31Nov. 1-11
    April 28: Child’s PlayDec. 31Nov. 11-22
    April 29: Endings that Shape UsDec. 31Nov. 23-Dec. 3
    April 30: Course and MethodDec. 31Dec. 3-14
    Revision PromptsDec. 31Dec. 15-31

  • Cultivating and Sustaining Writing Communities Panel

    Cultivating and Sustaining Writing Communities Panel

    For the first time in countless years of trying, an AWP panel I’m a part of has been accepted, my first and only so far.

    I’m very excited to be presenting with Emmy Perez, Lorna Dee Cervantes and Guadalupe Mendez and deeply appreciate Rebecca Aronson, our moderator, for pulling this excellent panel together and including me on the roster.

    So, this year I won’t just be tagging along or volunteering to man a booth or table, I’ll actually be part of the program.