Julia Travers
About the Poet
Julia Travers (she/her) is a writer, artist and teacher in Virginia, U.S.A. She grew up near the Chesapeake Bay and lives in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She writes poetry, fiction, essays and news. Her creative works are published with Short Édition, Fish Publishing, Bowery Poetry, Rattapallax, On Being/ American Public Media, Ecological Citizen, The Poetry Society of Virginia (which awarded her two first place poetry awards) and others. She was recently awarded a Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing Poet-Author Fellowship. Find her work at juliatravers.journoportfolio.com, Twitter @traversjul.
Region
Northern
Virginia City or County Affiliation
Culpeper
Years of Residence in Virginia
43
Current City/State of Residence
Culpeper, VA
Gender
Not specified
Race/Ethnicity
White
Year of Birth
1979
Keywords/Tags
nature, mindfulness, love, magic
Website
https://juliatravers.journoportfolio.com/
Published Works or Performances
Awards and Recognitions:
Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing: Poet-Author Fellowship
Virginia Poetry Society annual contests: two First Place poetry prizes, one Third Place poetry prize
Glenwood Clark Fiction Prize: First Place
Jacob von Kutzleben Fiction Contest: First Place
Minnesota Great River Shakespeare Festival: Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest: Laureates' Choice Prize
Fish Publishing's International Lockdown Prize for Haiku/ Senryu: Second Place
Haunted Waters Press Short Shorts Competition: Honorable Mention
Patricia Dobler Poetry Award: Finalist
Glimmer Train Short Story Prize: Finalist
Oprelle "Matter" Poetry Contest: Finalist
Sunspot Literary Journal's Culmination Contest: Semi-finalist (my work was also short-listed in a Sunspot fiction competition)
My creative writing is published in/by:
The Poetry Virginia Review; Ecological Citizen; Fish Publishing; Rattapallax; Heron Tree Poetry Journal; the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council; Bowery Poetry; Short Édition; Geez Magazine, 34 Orchard (upcoming), Corporeal Literary Magazine; Rogue Agent Journal through Sundress Publications; Rough Cut Press; Contemporary American Voices; Humana Obscura; Streetlight Magazine; Kernel Magazine, Fredericksburg Literary and Art Review; The William and Mary Review; The Compassion Anthology; Whurk Magazine; Ledbury Poetry Festival; Mala Leche; The Journal of Wild Culture; Blueline Literary Magazine; the exhibition and book, Open to Interpretation, from Liberty Town Arts; Sparked Literary Magazine; "We Are Here," a collaborative poetry project with Virginia Poet Laureate, Luisa A. Igloria, as well as her Poetry Postcard Project; The Poet's Domain; Audubon Alaska; Budding Light Press, Birds Piled Loosely Press; Echo World Magazine; Postcard Poems and Prose Magazine; Butter Press; Sky Island Journal; Disquiet Arts, Kudzu Literary Magazine; The Good Men Project; Minnesota Great River Shakespeare Festival; The Big Windows Review; Vagabond City; The Eclectic Literary Magazine; The Gallery; The Escarp Review; tenderness, yea; Healing Forest; the “Million-line Poem,” from Tupelo Press; and the creative social justice groups, Racket and Period Piece.
I have published numerous essays, including with OnBeing from APR; The Mindfulness Bell, a publication of Plum Village with Thich Nhat Hanh; with Sharon Salzberg’s Meditation Challenge blog; The Yoga and Body Image Coalition; Yoga Basics; and other publications.
Along with creative works, I also write news and analysis for multiple sites. I am published with NPR, Discover Magazine, Art News, Earth Island Journal, and others. Visit my non-fiction portfolio to learn more: jtravers.journoportfolio.com.
I am a visual artist and art teacher.
Selected Individual Poems or Performances
1. Known by Water
I know you,
water says
to everyone,
holding us when we enter.
Drink,
says water,
when we’re thirsty.
I grow you,
I flow through,
I love you,
water says,
though we throw trash in its mouth
and smudge out its round voice,
though we turn away.
But water persists,
in our sky, land and cells,
weaving our spit and tears
into the breath of the world,
insisting:
I know you.
...
"Known by Water" was published in Ecological Citizen. https://www.ecologicalcitizen.net/pdfs/v02n2-17.pdf
2. Two
From across a field,
two recognized each other,
and the ground between them
filled with flowers.
...
“Two” was published in Maltrop from Budding Light Press. https://www.buddinglightpress.com/issue-1
3. Marine
I swam in on the high tide and
skinned my knees on the breaker wall.
I fought through the swamp,
shin deep in slippery roots
that twisted into henna thigh tattoos.
I sleepwalk with mud between my toes
and under my fingernails,
wearing heavy earrings
made of fishnets and glass floats.
At night, I pull up the edges of the carpet
in our apartment home
and draw on the floor
with white stones and burnt sticks,
pictures of us on a boat.
...
"Marine" was published in Heron Tree Poetry Journal. https://herontree.com/travers1/
4. Backwards
I can’t speak words
my head is sideways
my mind is sideways
can you still understand me
I never adapted
to life
I walk backwards in circles
would you like to join me
I’m tired of trying to align my wheel
to a track
maybe
I’m a runaway train
no wait
I remember
I’m a horse
...
“Backwards” was published by Corporeal Literary Magazine. https://www.corporeallitmag.com/juliatravers
5. Ingredients
piggy bank contents
notes from middle school
a piece of smoked cheddar a splinter
drip castles, a bird’s backwards knee
a handful of silt, hot pink lipstick, wet ink
belly button lint
B flat & F sharp, eye brows, shadows
queens, second hands slug slime
bald spots bullet shells willow bark
corduroy, a black crayon
red breast, scabbed shin,
bottle tops, butter computer keys
a napkin, a nickel, a crow’s caw,
braids and bedhead, walnuts,
ant’s feet on my arm,
raw heels gems watermelon crisp.
cherry tomatoes broken leather
doorbells cars peeling paint
pigeon’s down clinging
to flakes of dead leaf
the ashy pad of a paw,
yarn molding off a mop
burnt cheeseburger buns
chalk drawings down the block
hands straightened in prayer
tokens for a carnival
round, clucking stars
...
“Ingredients” was published by Rough Cut Press. https://roughcutpress.com/issue-21/
Julia Travers