About

Craig Brandis’s poems and reviews have been published in Oxford Magazine, Palette Poetry, Parhelion, Trampoline, American Journal of Poetry, Poetry Quarterly, Plume and elsewhere. He won first place in the 2025 Raymond Carver Writing Festival contest for poetry. He was a semi-finalist for the 2022 Berkshire prize for a first or second book, for the 2021 Frontier OPEN prize and for the 2020 Palette Poetry Emerging Poet prize. His debut collection of poems, Crying of Small Motors,  was released in 2024 by Finishing Line Press.  He teaches poetry at the Attic Institute for Literary Arts in Portland, Oregon. 

5 responses to “About”

  1. anna mosca | October 3, 2013 at 2:45 pm | Reply

    Hi, thank you for following my poetry blog. This to inform you is a bilingual blog, so if you get a notice about an Italian poems, use your patience 😉 an English one will soon follow. I’m doing my best to keep things balanced…

  2. Cynthia Jobin | December 20, 2013 at 9:01 pm | Reply

    I share your view of what poets do.

  3. Tokoni O. Uti | November 23, 2014 at 1:16 pm | Reply

    Hi,

    I’m Tokoni, A student and poet. Its nice to meet your I’d like to invite you to my blog, http://www.insanitybeautiful.wordpress.com if you’re interested. Thanks!  

  4. John Looker | March 2, 2018 at 9:49 am | Reply

    I wonder whether you would mind telling us a little about the change of name? I’ve followed your poems for a long time now, with real interest, knowing you as Burl. I went through a name change myself three years ago when my first book was published and I realised I wanted, and needed, to publish under a pen name. It can be an important decision. All the best, John

  5. Craig Brandis (aka Burl Whitman) | March 2, 2018 at 10:55 am | Reply

    Of course. Thanks for asking. John, I’ve really appreciated your readership and comments over the years! I enjoyed reading Hive Mind as well. I found it far ranging, literate and intriguing writing. I started writing under a pen name ten years ago because I was a journeyman learning a craft. After taking numerous classes from some excellent poets I’ve started publishing in journals and I’ve also been offered a book contract. Assuming things work out (they are being very slow) I’ll use my given name there. It seemed like a good time to use it here too. I like my pen name though, it feels like a distinct persona, and I may use it again later.

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