2025
September:
* Ashland Poetry Broadside Contest, year 3
. This year’s judge: Marcelo Hernandez Castillo
August:
* Year four(!?) at Ashland University
. Comp and Creative Writing. The first semester where I know what I’m doing…
* Reading! At Akron Public Library
. Release event for 40-over-40 anthology
* New Poem!
. “Now You Are Here” in the anthology The Roads at Night Looked Like Our Futures: A 40 over 40 Anthology
July:
* Grant Awarded
. Ohio Arts Council grant awarded for Ashland MFA
* Ashland MFA Summer Residency!
. Scheduled and hosted the entirety of two-week festival
. . Visiting Writer Series: Mat Johnson, Kari Gunter-Seymour, Ryan Van Meter
. . New faculty hired: Glenn Shaheen, Kelly Luce (and vets Naomi Williams, Kyle Winkler, Cass Donish)
. . Visiting panelists/speakers: Patrick Lay, Annmarie Kelly-Harbaugh, Elizabeth Dark, Adam Gellings
. . Sat on 10 MFA Thesis Committees
. . Spoke at opening ceremony and graduation
. This was an unmitigated success. I couldn’t be prouder of every aspect of the Residency.
May:
* And it’s into the manuscripts
. Richard Snyder Prize gets 447 entries!
March:
* Off to Los Angeles for AWP again!
. Bringing the Poetry Press, the MFA, and three undergrads on Early Promise Grants
. Co-Hosting a reading at LA County Library
. . Ashland Poetry Press, Black Fork Review, Chestnut Review, Muleskinner Review
. . I hosted again
. . Our readers: Isra Cheema, Tess Taylor
* New Distribution for Ashland Poetry Press: Itasca
. We’re really excited. It’s been a long time of doing our own post-SPD distribution.
. Thank goodness!
February:
* New Poem!
. “Waking in Nebraska to the Sound of Stifled Weeping” in Grub Street Review
* Visiting Writer Series, Thea Lim
. Hosted Toronto novelist and friend, Thea Lim
* Temporary Managing Editor, Deja Jones, comes on board
. Ashland Poetry Press has wanted this for years. Welcome aboard!!
January:
* New Temporary Gig: Ashland MFA Interim Director
. This is one version of my dream job: Teaching Creative Writing, running a Poetry Press, and Directing an MFA
. It’s gonna be a lot. Let’s go!
* Richard Snyder Prize, back again
. This year’s judge: Kim Addonizio
* Spring Class
. How about an Advanced Fiction Workshop, and a bunch of senior capstone sections
2024
December:
* New Poems!
. “I Hear You Breathe” in Quail Bell
. “Beyond All This” in Quail Bell
October:
* Hosted Ashland Visiting Writer’s Series
. Got to bring my friend, Kristine Ervine, in support of her amazing memoir, Rabbit Heart.
. Co-Sponsored by the Ashland Center for Nonviolence
* Awarded three Early Promise Grants to bring students to AWP in Los Angeles
September:
* Awarded Bridge Grant from the Poetry Foundation for Ashland Poetry Press
. III
* New Poems (international version)!
. “On It’s Way to Something Else” in Galway Review (out of Ireland!)
. “Nightstill” in Galway Review (Ireland)
. “Estate Sale” in Galway Review (Ireland)
. “Way Too Deep to Come Back” (Ireland)
* Ashland Poetry Press Broadside Contest, version 2.0
. This year, featuring judge Adam Gellings
August:
* Year three(!) at Ashland University
. Let’s try a Creative Nonfiction workshop this semester (and an intro workshop)
* New Poems (international version)!
. “Fragments from the Living Room, Springfield” in Modern Literature (out of India!)
. “The Absence You’re Suddenly Aware Of” in Modern Literature (India)
. “How We Understand Death” in Modern Literature (India)
July:
* Ashland MFA
. Didn’t teach this year, but did a talk on publication
May:
* Off to Tuscany, Italy, with Ashland University Study Abroad.
. Art and Literature session at Monasterino della Conoscenza, outside Siena.
. . First time I’ve ever studied abroad (I didn’t do this on college)
. . First time I’ve been back in Italy in 15 years
. . Extra stop-off in Venice = the highlight of everything
April:
* Get to bring my friend, poet Todd Kaneko, to town for the Ashland Visiting Writers Series.
* New Poem!
. My poem, “Street Ghazal,” was reprinted by Cuyahoga County Library as part of National Poetry Series Event
. . A daily writing prompt was added for each poem
March:
* SPD Folds. This is our distributor.
. It’s not clear what this will mean, but the Ashland Poetry Press is still alive
February:
* Off to AWP in Kansas City
. Bringing the Poetry Press, the MFA, and five undergrads on Early Promise Grants
. Co-Hosting a reading at The Bird Comedy Club
. . Ashland Poetry Press, Black Fork Review, Airlie Press
. . I hosted
. . Our readers: Burgi Zenheausen, Laura Donnelly
January:
* Richard Snyder Prize reading starts
. My second time doing this. We’ll see if I can be a little more efficient this year…
. This year’s judge: Matthew Rohrer
* Classes for the spring, including “Advanced Poetry Workshop” and “The Short Story”
. It’s gonna be a fun semester
* New Poems!
. “The Spring We Couldn’t Stop Hurting and Never Learned a Thing” in Zone 3
. “Tremor” in Main Street Rag
. “We Live in Four Rooms” in Clackamas Literary Review
2023
December:
* Reading at Ashland with Sharleen Mondal and Kelly Sundberg
October:
* Awarded five Early Promise grants to bring students to AWP in Kansas City (along with Kelly Sundberg)
September:
* Opening a new publishing project with Ashland Poetry Press
. Inaugural Poetry Broadside Contest
. Winners designed by poet/artist Lindsay Lusby
August:
* Year two is on at Ashland University
July:
* Ashland MFA: teaching Eng 503 poetry workshop
* Reading alongside Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, and Thayne Casper
May:
* Teaching with Power of the Pen
. Junior High creative writing project on dialog
* Snyder Prize closes down on May 15
. 448 submissions is HUGE – 100 more than usual for this press
April:
* One year down at Ashland University
March:
* Heading to Seattle for AWP
. Ashland Poetry Press hasn’t been to AWP for a few years
. Tag teaming with the Ashland MFA
. Author Signings at the table
. . Danielle Dubrasky
. . Carlos Aguasaco
* Awarded Faculty Development Grant
. To develop a publishing institute with Ashland MFA
January:
* Richard Snyder Prize reading starts
. My first time running this prize… my first year running this Press…
. This year’s judge: Mark Doty
* Classes for the spring, including “The Poem”
. One of my favorite classes ever
2022
October:
* Coordinating a two-day Writer-in Residence program at Ashland University
. Featuring acclaimed spoken word poet (and old friend) Ryler Dustin.
This is exciting and hopefully it will become a tradition.
* Keynote speaker at Sigma Tau Delta Initiation ceremony.
. October 6, 2022 — which also happens to be the 23rd anniversary of my life-changing Greyhound odyssey.
August:
* First semester at Ashland University is on. Also taking the reins of the Ashland Poetry Press.
. A lot of things happening at once. Stay tuned.
May:
* Hired onto faculty at Ashland University (Ashland, Ohio), teaching creative writing, literature, and graduate poetry workshops, and serving as Editor of Ashland Poetry Press.
. More on this story as it develops.
January:
* January 28: Grand Valley Writer’s Series
. Readers: Oindrila Mukherjee, Brandon Rushton, Chuck Carlise
* Final Semester at GVSU. Let’s make it a good one!
2021
April:
* “First the Forgetting” goes live
—–Collaborative poetry/film project featuring poems from In One Version of the Story
2020
December:
* New Poems in Print!
—–“Solana” and “This is Mathematics” hit the presses in Nimrod 42.1 (Fall/Winter 2020)
November:
* Virtual Reading for Nimrod International Journal of Poetry & Prose Awards Issue
—-“Solana”
—-“This is Mathematics”
September:
* Fall Semester in 2020 = Hybrid courses at GVSUd
July:
* CTY Online classes start: Crafting the Essay
—–Onward & Upward
June:
* Two poems (“This is Mathematics” and “Solana”) finalists for Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize at Nimrod International Journal of Poetry & Prose
March:
* Courses go online with COVID-19 Quarantine
January:
* Winter Semeseter at GVSU is off and running — creative writing and comp.
—–Off we go!
2019
August:
* Classes start at GVSU — let’s do this!
July:
* Joining the Faculty at Grand Valley State University (Allendale, MI)
—–After another wild summer, I’m off to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to teach creative writing and literature at Grand Valley State as Visiting Assistant Professor.
June:
* Summer Classes at CTY (UCSC campus)
. Writing About Place & Crafting the Essay: starting, in 3… 2… 1…
May:
* Goodbye and Thank You to Westminster College
—–Off to the next big adventure
January:
* Taking over the Janus literary journal (Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri)
* Joining faculty at Johns Hopkins CTY Online
Teaching online creative writing courses in nonfiction.
2018
August:
* Joining the faculty in English at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri
—–After a wild spring and summer, I’m moving to Missouri to teach creative writing and literature at Westminster as Visiting Assistant Professor.
* Also joining the faculty in English at Southern New Hampshire University
—–Teaching online creative writing courses in nonfiction, primarily to graduate students.
April:
* San Fernando Book Festival
—–Tabling with collaborator, Solana Rose Feldthouse
—–See us here!
March:
* Collaborative multi-media reading performance (in collaboration with artist/film-maker Solana Feldthouse), at Hanover College, Hanover, IN (March 6)
2017
October:
* Residency at Fort Hays State University (Hays, KS):
—–Writer in Residence, Fort Hays State, October 18-22.
Including public workshop, class visits, individual conferences with writers, judging a National Day of Writing Poetry Contest, a panel discussion with library’s Writing Circle, hosting an open mic, and more. (ad poster here)
—–Keynote speaker at SIgma Tau Delta, High Plains Regional Conference, Hays, KS, October 20. (ad poster here)
* My essay, “Three Suggestions for Campus Protesters” (Pole Axe, May 2017), gets featured on So Crazy It Just Might Work Podcast in June (“Idea #5,” June 2017).
Check it out here.
* Fall classes start on up and I’m moving across town to Capitola.
—–Let’s do this, Fall!
Summer:
* East Coast/Midwest Reading Tour 2017 — through August & September.
. (more info on the reading tour available HERE)
May:
* Valparaiso Poetry Review lists In One Version of the Story as a “recommended book”
February:
* Book Signing at AWP! Come find me at the New Issues Table, 11am on Saturday, February 11!
January:
* Review of In One Version of the Story appears in Publisher’s Weekly(!)
…In this haunting debut,… Carlise asks readers to consider the complexity of such tropes as the ingénue (which often deny the subject their agency) and asks how we construct our personal mythologies.
—–Holy Cow!
2016
October:
The book arrives! In One Version of the Story is now real. It’s a fine-looking book (thanks to the folks at New Issues) — available now. Thrilling.
September:
Classes starting for 2016-17
. UC-Santa Cruz, Merrill College Core, and Writing Program
Onward!
June:
* Summer Classes at CTY (UCSC campus)
. Writing About Place & Crafting the Essay: starting, in 3… 2… 1…
February:
* Panel Discussion: “John Steinbeck and Of Mice and Men”
Benefit for Young Writers Program, Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (2016)
. Other panelists include: Susan Shillinglaw (Dir. Of National Steinbeck Center), and Daisy Martin (Dir. of History/Social Studies Performance Assessment at Stanford)
January:
* Classes starting for Winter Quarter 2016.
. UC-Santa Cruz, Writing 2 and MER 180
* It’s come to my attention that I am now apparently famous. My Writing 2 course (“A History of Cool”) is now a deciding factor in a BuzzFeed quiz.
. As I’ve always said, first BuzzFeed, then the world…
2015
October:
* Skype Lecture/Conversation with Creative Writing Class at Fort Hays State University (Hays, KS).
. Dr. James Austin and company: let’s talk about hybrid writing!
September:
* Classes starting for 2015-16
. UC-Santa Cruz, Merrill College Core
Onward!
June:
* Summer Classes at CTY (Loyola Marymount campus)
. Nonfiction: starting, in 3… 2… 1…
May:
* Manuscript, In One Version of the Story, selected for publication by New Issues Poetry & Prose!
. Book is due out in 2016
. !!!!!!!!!!!!
April:
* Manuscript named Finalist for the New Issues Poetry Prize
January:
* Best New Poets 2014 arrives!
. Full of poem-y goodness. I’m on page 81.
. Get ’em while they’re hot.
2014
December:
* New Poems!
“Last Words” in Zyzzyva no. 102 (a pastiche pantoum of the last words of 18 historical figures)
October:
* Manuscript named Finalist for the Black Lawrence Hudson Prize
* Manuscript named Finalist for the YesYes Books Open Reading Period..
One of the final six manuscripts
September:
* Classes starting up at UCSC for 2014-15.
. UC-Santa Cruz, Merrill College Core
Onward!
July:
* New poem chosen for Best New Poets 2014:
“I Can Tell You a Story” (also forthcoming in Third Coast)
. Anthology due out in November. (order it here)
June:
* Manuscript named Finalist for the Saturnalia Books Prize
* Manuscript named a finalist for Field Prize for Poetry (Oberlin University Press)
May:
* Manuscript named Honorable Mention for Coconut Press Joanna Cargill Award
* Manuscript named Finalist for the Poets Out Loud Book Prize
* Finalist for Olive B. O’Connor Teaching Fellowship at Colgate University
* Finalist for Halls/Middlebrook Poetry Fellowship at University of Wisconsin
* Semi-Finalist for Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center Residency
. (2014 is apparently “The Year of Very Close” for me)
March:
* Manuscript named Semi-Finalist in the Crab Orchard Book Series
February:
* Manuscript recognized as an Honored Entrant in the Fence Modern Poets Series
* Selection of poems named finalist for Red Hen Poetry Award
January:
* A new docket of classes at UCSC:
. “A History of Cool: American Counterculture & the Modern Era”
. “Constructing Identity: Rhetoric & Self”
. “Merrill College 180: Research Practicum for College & Beyond”
Game on.
2013
December:
* Manuscript named a finalist for 2013 Barrow Street Prize (Barrow Street Press).
October:
* Manuscript named a finalist for Robert Dana Prize for Poetry (Anhinga Press).
September:
* Back at UCSC for 2013-14.
. UC-Santa Cruz, Merrill College Core
Let’s do this.
August:
* Manuscript named a finalist for Field Prize for Poetry (Oberlin University Press)
April:
* Manuscript named a finalist for Colorado Prize for Poetry (University of Colorado Press).
. Out of 600+ entries!
March:
* Gigantic Sequins 4.1 features a review of Casual Insomniac by Robby Auld.
…Casual Insomniac is brimming and beautiful. Chuck Carlise is bursting with talent.
. Wow.
February:
* Manuscript short-listed by Cornelius Eady as one of three Finalists for Philip Levine Prize (Anhinga Press).
. Out of 650 entries!
* Four reviews of A Broken Escalator Still Isn’t the Stairs up at Goodreads.
Ultimately the chapbook achieves what the chapbook format allows, while also being linguistically accessible to most audiences.
. These are thoughtful & exciting.
January:
* Manuscript named a Semi-Finalist for Brittingham & Pollack Prizes (University of Wiconsin Press).
2012
December:
* Bitch Magazine contributor Thea Lim gives me a shout-out in Issue #56 (“Bookmarked: Why Does Gender Need It’s Own Genre?”):
“…My friend, the poet Chuck Carlise, says that ultimately, what all great literature seeks to do is remind us that the world is more complex that it seems…”
It’s a really good article by a really good writer in a really good magazine. I’m stoked just to get mentioned.
. (Subscriptions & Back Issues. These are good people to support.)
November:
* Best New Poets 2012 arrives!
. Full of poem-y goodness. I’m on page 27.
. Get ’em while they’re hot.
October:
* School starts!
. UC-Santa Cruz, Merrill College Core
. Go Slugs.
September:
* PoetryNight (Bellingham, Wash.) – Featured Reader
. 8:3pm – Sept 10, 2012
. Amadeus Project, Bellingham, WA
. (listen)
August:
* New poem chosen for Best New Poets 2012:
. “A Compendium of Photographs: l’Inconnue de la Seine”
. Anthology due out in November. (order it here)
July:
“Hope, Gratitude and Joy; Poems That Wow”: Vince Corvaia’s review of Iron Horse 14.2 in The Review Review.
[About my poem, “A Dozen Riders Arrive at the Binghamton Greyhound”]: This poem reminds me of an Edward Hopper painting. Any Hopper painting. The characters “stand on the tar in oil-stain rainbows, / gather bags, make calls, wait.” One by one they depart into the night, whether by cab or on foot. There is something ineffably sad about them, about this netherworld between flight and arrival. Something metaphorical is at work here, almost existential. “Stone-chipped curbs rise to our knees; / what can we offer them? Witness? Prayer?” One by one they complete their journey without us. “We are five. Now three.” This is the most unforgettable poem in the issue, the hardest to shake off, and maybe the best.
May:
* May 11: PhD Graduation.
* New Poems!
. “A Dozen Riders Arrive at the Binghamton Greyhound” : Iron Horse 14.2 (NaPoMo Issue)
April:
* UH Dissertation: Defended.
. PhD: All over but the shouting.
. Huzzah.
* New essay about poetry’s place in our lives:
. “Making Sense of Things” at Gulf Coast Editors’ Blog
* April 1: InPrint/UH Award Winners Reading (With Adam Peterson, Michelle Mariano, Aja Gabel, Whitney Mower, Josh Gottlieb-Miller, and Karie Buss)
March:
* March 1: AWP Reading
. This is Beautiful, This is Beautiful: Six Small Presses.
. Thursday, 7 – 11pm
. Simone’s Bar, AWP, Chicago, IL
. Hosted by: Bateau, Burnside Review, Interrupture, Rose Metal Press, Slope Editions & Versal
. Readers: John Gallaher, Brooklyn Copeland, Sean Lovelace, Chuck Carlise, Louise Mathias, Ryan Flaherty, Anna Moriarty Lev, Jane Lewty, Erin Costello, Nate Liederbach, Amaranth Borsuk, Trey Moody/Joshua Ware, John Jodzio, Kate Nuernberger & Brad Liening.
February:
* A shout-out for my poem “One Reason I Don’t Believe in Hell” from minnesota review from Benjamin Sutten, at oh, Lighthouse.
. Chuck Carlise’s ‘One Reason I Don’t Believe in Hell’ reminds us if you need hell you can always find it here on earth. No need to die today.
January:
* InPrint/Paul Verlaine Prize in Poetry 2011-12 winner. !!!
2011
December:
* Casual Insomniac * Arrives!
. Gorgeous cover & stitched binding. Get it while it’s hot.
. Direct from Bateau.
* New Poems!
. “The Subject in Context” : Gigantic Sequins 3.1
. “Antiphony” and “One Reason I Don’t Believe in Hell” : minnesota review 77
November:
* A Broken Escalator Still Isn’t the Stairs * is nominated for six Pushcart Prizes.
September:
* “The Opposite of a Contributor’s Copy : A Broken Escalator Still Isn’t the Stairs”.
. Review by Amorak Huey
* A Broken Escalator Still Isn’t the Stairs * Arrives!
. Concrete Wolf Poetry Series. All glossy & awesome.
. Order from Powells.
August:
* New Poems!
. “Street Ghazal” (online!) : Southeast Review 29.1
. “Questions for the Paris Morgue, 1880” : American Literary Review 22.1
June:
* “Word for Word” Reading Series
. (with Kevin Prufer and Edward Porter)
. June 7, 2011
. 14 Pews, Houston, TX
* “This is where you are” (photo-essay in “Berfrois“)
. reprints part of “A Broken Escalator Still Isn’t the Stairs”
May:
* Casual Insomniac * wins the Boom! Chapbook Prize from Bateau Press. !!