writer-IN-RESIDENCE
september 11 – october 2, 2024
Kaecey McCormick
Originally from New England, Kaecey McCormick now writes and creates art in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the winner of the 2023 Connecticut Poetry Prize, a past poet laureate for the city of Cupertino, California, and an instructor at The Writers Studio. Her poetry and prose have appeared in different literary journals, including The Pinch, Clockhouse, Jabberwock Review, Pedestal Magazine, Pine Hills Review, One Sentence Poems, On the Seawall, and Sky Island Journal, as well as her chapbooks Sleeping with Demons (2023) and Pixelated Tears (2018).
Before becoming a full-time freelance writer, Kaecey taught college English in Northern California. When not writing or making art, you can find her hiking up a mountain, spending time with her family, or reading a book.
Artist Statement
While in residence, I plan to continue work on my first full-length collection, juxtaposing enjambed and prose poetry around the central theme of loss. Originating as an elegiac response to the life and death of my sister, who died from cancer as a teenager, the collection has since broadened, dissecting the complexity of grief, identity, and transformation. The poems serve as a memento mori to and meditation on the inevitability and nature of loss, grief, and mourning, exploring losses of different kinds, such as loss of identity, control, circumstance, or relationship. My writing often reflects an intersection between the landscape and recurring themes in my poetry, and I look forward to the time in the Tunnel of Trees sparking creativity and generating new areas of thought and expression. During my time at Good Hart, I’ll revise existing pieces and draft new work to fill gaps in the narrative arc. As a writer committed to community engagement, I’m thrilled to be in residence during the Harbor Springs Festival of Books. I look forward to participating in conversations about literary art, place, and community and spending time facilitating a workshop, working with local residents to create new art together.