I mainly write nonfiction, though sometimes I write stories. Sometimes I write essays that sound like stories. I also write articles, interviews, vignettes, and poetry. In recent years, I completed two poetry projects in which I paired my short poems with visual art.
Often I’m not sure how to define what I write, so I let pieces settle into those vast spaces between and around genres. My work has been published in Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Hobart, The Maine Review, The Seventh Wave, PULP Magazine, Duende, Pigeonholes, Heron’s Nest, and Frogpond, among others.
Select Publications
“After a few minutes, one of the butterflies crawls to the top, sticks its butterfly nose over the edge, and flutters away. It lands on a nearby bush. We clap and cheer. I feel something within me shift.”
The Seventh Wave
I Keep Counting Up“We welcome the pain I carry, and the pain I need, into the space between us. We watch it, play with it, honor it for what it is: a sign that we are human and confused. We are also so very tired, but we sometimes feel hopeful in small ways.”
Hobart
Seeing The Sun“The word guardian derives from the Middle English word garden. I find this fitting; my instinctive need for protection leads me to nature—to plant life—and almost always to trees. When I’m in their presence, I can sense their watchfulness. I feel their embrace.”
Tricycle: The Buddhist Review
Why Trees Are the Ultimate Meditation Teachers“I slid into this hot mass of cloud, letting it wrap around me until my body no longer remained. The car fell away. The snow dissolved. I felt myself floating into a deep, bright expanse. I recognized this. I had been here before. I moved within it—weightless—floating in its limitlessness.”
Liar’s League NYC
A Slow Drive Home“Things my anger is not: sharp or hot, broken or guarded. She is not dazed or fluorescent. She is not a lamb, a turnip, a stack of folded towels. She is not a pile of leaves on the side of the house, the screen door slamming, the screen door slamming twice.”
PULP Magazine
My Anger Saw An Angel Once“Just as I heard the sound of heavy boots approaching, keys dangling, door opening, I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed and waited, my bare toes hovering over the ice cold floor.”
Painted Bride Quarterly
Advent“Ron laughs. When he does, his giant tree body stands tall and shakes. He does not quiet himself. His laughter rises above the honking, above the sirens; his laughter is louder than the whispers and sneers.”
Pigeonholes
This Is Ronald McDonald, Who Protects From Fear of False Imprisonment“For many years, storytellers and chroniclers have failed us: they abandoned a larger, more inclusive truth in favor of one that only served only a portion of the [Buddhist] community. Now, millennia later, we can do better, and we must.”
Tricycle: The Buddhist Review
A New Path Into the Past: Book Review“This nuanced compassion is perhaps one of the greatest reasons Oliver’s work is so beloved. Her tone is quiet and reassuring and her suggestions are direct, guiding, and unafraid. She does not shout, or grip readers and pull them toward her; she simply beckons.”
Tricycle: The Buddhist Review
The Spiritual Legacy of Mary Oliver“Fourteen years. I pack up your ties, your jeans. I fold your warmest sweaters.”
Haiku Society of America
Have You Seen This Man?“In an interview with Tricycle, Prisco […] explains why our society has an obligation to not only keep children safe but also to see them for who they really are: multi-dimensional, complex, wise beings capable of self-reflection and transformation.”
