Peggy Simmons

My Writing

I'm much more interested in the process and practice of writing than I am in publishing. I've always written. Finding words is how I process, think, and cope. I journal daily. Creative writing in community is a beautiful way to get to know people different from myself, both deeply and at a distance. I am also dedicated to creating opportunities for others to believe more deeply in their own words and to learn from each other. So most of my writing is done either in my journal or in workshops.  

Here is some of my work:

• Upcoming: The poem "Some Women Carry Keys" will be in the forthcoming Quillkeepers Press anthology How We Learned to Leave, due out in January 2027.

• Self-published and edited or co-edited collections from my writing workshops: six books that can be purchased here and four chapbooks.

• Various blog posts, including two poems, on the Green Windows: Art of Interchange blog. 

• “C’est plutôt une bonne histoire…," an article about writing workshops in juvenile hall and about the power of words to trap, liberate, or unite in the Revue Quart Monde (in French). 

• Green Windows: Art of Interchange was featured in Crux. There is a fantastic article about the workshops plus eight pieces of writing that came from them, including my poem, "The Soft Edge." ($5 purchase required for the full magazine). ​

• Poetry and flash fiction published under the pen name Meg Claudel: 

  • • "Map" in SLAB (Issue #2, p 134). "Map" was a finalist in the Many Mountains Moving flash fiction contest in 2006. 

    • "Three Photographs" in flashquake (where nominated for a Pushcart Prize). Also published as "Love Story in Three Photographs" in the Spillway Review 

    • "Blue Day" in Word Riot

    • "Rain Jack" in The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature

    • "To Mr. Howard" at The Journal of Modern Post

• Meg Claudel's poem “Free Sunset” was chosen for the Temescal Insitu public art project, as part of an urban mural.

• Three completed manuscripts. I have not spent much time trying to find homes for these. 

  • • From This to a Simple Life - 58,000-word novel. Excerpt here.

    • What I Want My Words To Do To You -  Creative nonfiction. 30,000 words pulled from my journals over seven years running weekly writing workshops in juvenile hall plus 50,000 words of the youths' own writing. Excerpt here.

    • I Can't Find Myself - 23,000-word creative nonfiction memoir about caring for my mom at the end of her life. Semi-finalist, Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards, Nonfiction.  Excerpt here.