Cynthia Marie Hoffman
@cynthiamhoffman.bsky.social
Poet. Exploding Head (an OCD memoir in prose poems), Call Me When You Want to Talk about the Tombstones, Paper Doll Fetus, Sightseer.
Essays in TIME, The Sun, Lit Hub. (she/her) www.cynthiamariehoffman.com
Essays in TIME, The Sun, Lit Hub. (she/her) www.cynthiamariehoffman.com
Cat and bird.
July 28, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Cat and bird.
I'm in my midlife/ motherhood sad rage era. Thanks to @swwim.bsky.social for giving this one a home.
🔪 🪓 🎸 🖤 🦋
🔪 🪓 🎸 🖤 🦋
April 18, 2025 at 4:59 PM
I'm in my midlife/ motherhood sad rage era. Thanks to @swwim.bsky.social for giving this one a home.
🔪 🪓 🎸 🖤 🦋
🔪 🪓 🎸 🖤 🦋
With cuts to funding, resources, and rights--writing the disability experience is ever more urgent and necessary.
✨ EXPLODING HEAD✨ is on this Reading List of 7 poetry books for @electricliterature.com, in which @sfmontgomery.bsky.social also talks about her craft book NERVE.
tinyurl.com/4sycj8ph
✨ EXPLODING HEAD✨ is on this Reading List of 7 poetry books for @electricliterature.com, in which @sfmontgomery.bsky.social also talks about her craft book NERVE.
tinyurl.com/4sycj8ph
April 6, 2025 at 2:19 AM
With cuts to funding, resources, and rights--writing the disability experience is ever more urgent and necessary.
✨ EXPLODING HEAD✨ is on this Reading List of 7 poetry books for @electricliterature.com, in which @sfmontgomery.bsky.social also talks about her craft book NERVE.
tinyurl.com/4sycj8ph
✨ EXPLODING HEAD✨ is on this Reading List of 7 poetry books for @electricliterature.com, in which @sfmontgomery.bsky.social also talks about her craft book NERVE.
tinyurl.com/4sycj8ph
Prairie burn.
March 16, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Prairie burn.
There's still time to register for my zoom workshop Thursday, March 13.
We're going to write sentences and cut up sentences with scissors and talk about this really obvious but mind blowing concept of sentence combining and the infinitely (sort of) generative tool of modifying clauses and anaphora!
We're going to write sentences and cut up sentences with scissors and talk about this really obvious but mind blowing concept of sentence combining and the infinitely (sort of) generative tool of modifying clauses and anaphora!
March 12, 2025 at 6:20 PM
There's still time to register for my zoom workshop Thursday, March 13.
We're going to write sentences and cut up sentences with scissors and talk about this really obvious but mind blowing concept of sentence combining and the infinitely (sort of) generative tool of modifying clauses and anaphora!
We're going to write sentences and cut up sentences with scissors and talk about this really obvious but mind blowing concept of sentence combining and the infinitely (sort of) generative tool of modifying clauses and anaphora!
Mammoth Cave!
Why are these experiences so brief and hurried and then they're just... over? How am I turning 50 in less than a week? I just want to sit in a dark and quiet cave, alone, just for a minute.
Why are these experiences so brief and hurried and then they're just... over? How am I turning 50 in less than a week? I just want to sit in a dark and quiet cave, alone, just for a minute.
February 24, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Mammoth Cave!
Why are these experiences so brief and hurried and then they're just... over? How am I turning 50 in less than a week? I just want to sit in a dark and quiet cave, alone, just for a minute.
Why are these experiences so brief and hurried and then they're just... over? How am I turning 50 in less than a week? I just want to sit in a dark and quiet cave, alone, just for a minute.
Floored by this stunning review of EXPLODING HEAD in North American Review!
Thank you to Shannon K. Winston for spending time in deep communication with this book, and for seeing it so clearly. ✨
Read it here: northamericanreview.org/open-space/2...
Thank you to Shannon K. Winston for spending time in deep communication with this book, and for seeing it so clearly. ✨
Read it here: northamericanreview.org/open-space/2...
February 8, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Floored by this stunning review of EXPLODING HEAD in North American Review!
Thank you to Shannon K. Winston for spending time in deep communication with this book, and for seeing it so clearly. ✨
Read it here: northamericanreview.org/open-space/2...
Thank you to Shannon K. Winston for spending time in deep communication with this book, and for seeing it so clearly. ✨
Read it here: northamericanreview.org/open-space/2...
Happy 1-year birthday to EXPLODING HEAD! 💥🤯📕🎂
I was planning to itemize the year's accomplishments, but then I woke to a beautiful email that echoed so many of the meaningful connections I've made with people who have OCD (and loved ones with OCD).
So that's what I want to celebrate. Thank you. ✨
I was planning to itemize the year's accomplishments, but then I woke to a beautiful email that echoed so many of the meaningful connections I've made with people who have OCD (and loved ones with OCD).
So that's what I want to celebrate. Thank you. ✨
February 7, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Happy 1-year birthday to EXPLODING HEAD! 💥🤯📕🎂
I was planning to itemize the year's accomplishments, but then I woke to a beautiful email that echoed so many of the meaningful connections I've made with people who have OCD (and loved ones with OCD).
So that's what I want to celebrate. Thank you. ✨
I was planning to itemize the year's accomplishments, but then I woke to a beautiful email that echoed so many of the meaningful connections I've made with people who have OCD (and loved ones with OCD).
So that's what I want to celebrate. Thank you. ✨
What a nice surprise to be paired with Joan Kwon Glass for this poetry reading!!
WHAT: Cafe Muse Literary Salon
WHEN: Monday, Feb 3, 7:30 PM Eastern
WHERE: ZOOM! 🏎️
Hosted by The Word Works 🧡
REGISTER to receive the link: sites.google.com/view/cafe-mu...
Would love to see you in cyberspace!
WHAT: Cafe Muse Literary Salon
WHEN: Monday, Feb 3, 7:30 PM Eastern
WHERE: ZOOM! 🏎️
Hosted by The Word Works 🧡
REGISTER to receive the link: sites.google.com/view/cafe-mu...
Would love to see you in cyberspace!
January 26, 2025 at 4:30 AM
What a nice surprise to be paired with Joan Kwon Glass for this poetry reading!!
WHAT: Cafe Muse Literary Salon
WHEN: Monday, Feb 3, 7:30 PM Eastern
WHERE: ZOOM! 🏎️
Hosted by The Word Works 🧡
REGISTER to receive the link: sites.google.com/view/cafe-mu...
Would love to see you in cyberspace!
WHAT: Cafe Muse Literary Salon
WHEN: Monday, Feb 3, 7:30 PM Eastern
WHERE: ZOOM! 🏎️
Hosted by The Word Works 🧡
REGISTER to receive the link: sites.google.com/view/cafe-mu...
Would love to see you in cyberspace!
EXPLODING HEAD is still on tour in 2025 (and I'm dragging along behind it!).
In February and March, l'Il be on Zoom and working my way through Minnesota, Kentucky, home in Madison-Wisconsin, and Virginia.
Clinging to poetry right now, and looking forward to connecting via these events!
In February and March, l'Il be on Zoom and working my way through Minnesota, Kentucky, home in Madison-Wisconsin, and Virginia.
Clinging to poetry right now, and looking forward to connecting via these events!
January 26, 2025 at 4:29 AM
EXPLODING HEAD is still on tour in 2025 (and I'm dragging along behind it!).
In February and March, l'Il be on Zoom and working my way through Minnesota, Kentucky, home in Madison-Wisconsin, and Virginia.
Clinging to poetry right now, and looking forward to connecting via these events!
In February and March, l'Il be on Zoom and working my way through Minnesota, Kentucky, home in Madison-Wisconsin, and Virginia.
Clinging to poetry right now, and looking forward to connecting via these events!
Christmas Day. ✨
December 26, 2024 at 2:47 AM
Christmas Day. ✨
December 17, 2024 at 2:37 AM
The writer's desk.
December 2, 2024 at 9:45 PM
The writer's desk.
I thought I could write a whole book about my lived experience with OCD and not ever say "OCD." But that would have been, in the least, a lost opportunity, and at the most, a big mistake.
From an interview in The Missouri Review's Substack DIG.
From an interview in The Missouri Review's Substack DIG.
December 2, 2024 at 9:43 PM
I thought I could write a whole book about my lived experience with OCD and not ever say "OCD." But that would have been, in the least, a lost opportunity, and at the most, a big mistake.
From an interview in The Missouri Review's Substack DIG.
From an interview in The Missouri Review's Substack DIG.
Zoomed tonight to celebrate the launch of Bear Review Issue 11.1.
Read my poem from the issue and some from Exploding Head. It was so great to hear the voices of poets in the issue! You know when you've read the poems but then hearing them aloud just brings them to life?!
www.bearreview.com/11-1
Read my poem from the issue and some from Exploding Head. It was so great to hear the voices of poets in the issue! You know when you've read the poems but then hearing them aloud just brings them to life?!
www.bearreview.com/11-1
November 15, 2024 at 5:32 AM
Zoomed tonight to celebrate the launch of Bear Review Issue 11.1.
Read my poem from the issue and some from Exploding Head. It was so great to hear the voices of poets in the issue! You know when you've read the poems but then hearing them aloud just brings them to life?!
www.bearreview.com/11-1
Read my poem from the issue and some from Exploding Head. It was so great to hear the voices of poets in the issue! You know when you've read the poems but then hearing them aloud just brings them to life?!
www.bearreview.com/11-1
Poets! Essayists! I'm here and happy to see so many of you here, too.
My most recent poetry collection is Exploding Head, an OCD memoir in prose poems from Persea Books.
Will try to post a bit more often here. Looking forward to building this community. ✨ Please say hi so I can follow you!
My most recent poetry collection is Exploding Head, an OCD memoir in prose poems from Persea Books.
Will try to post a bit more often here. Looking forward to building this community. ✨ Please say hi so I can follow you!
November 13, 2024 at 5:21 AM
Poets! Essayists! I'm here and happy to see so many of you here, too.
My most recent poetry collection is Exploding Head, an OCD memoir in prose poems from Persea Books.
Will try to post a bit more often here. Looking forward to building this community. ✨ Please say hi so I can follow you!
My most recent poetry collection is Exploding Head, an OCD memoir in prose poems from Persea Books.
Will try to post a bit more often here. Looking forward to building this community. ✨ Please say hi so I can follow you!
Ice on the lake today. Wish I could share that clattery sound it makes in the waves. 🎶
January 7, 2024 at 11:58 PM
Ice on the lake today. Wish I could share that clattery sound it makes in the waves. 🎶
One month countdown to EXPLODING HEAD, out on Feb 6!
So grateful to @eugenialeigh.bsky.social for this generous blurb, which settled some pre-pub nerves about sharing the weird, wild, scary interior of my OCD life.
Full blurb and Pre-order EXPLODING HEAD here: www.perseabooks.com/exploadinghead
So grateful to @eugenialeigh.bsky.social for this generous blurb, which settled some pre-pub nerves about sharing the weird, wild, scary interior of my OCD life.
Full blurb and Pre-order EXPLODING HEAD here: www.perseabooks.com/exploadinghead
January 7, 2024 at 10:36 PM
One month countdown to EXPLODING HEAD, out on Feb 6!
So grateful to @eugenialeigh.bsky.social for this generous blurb, which settled some pre-pub nerves about sharing the weird, wild, scary interior of my OCD life.
Full blurb and Pre-order EXPLODING HEAD here: www.perseabooks.com/exploadinghead
So grateful to @eugenialeigh.bsky.social for this generous blurb, which settled some pre-pub nerves about sharing the weird, wild, scary interior of my OCD life.
Full blurb and Pre-order EXPLODING HEAD here: www.perseabooks.com/exploadinghead
My poem "Hinge" about the mice in our cabinet and the lonely job of being the mother of a teenager is in the new issue of Whale Road Review.
www.whaleroadreview.com/hoffman/
Thank you @katiemanningpoet.bsky.social for this beautiful issue, and congrats on 8 years of Whale Road Review!
www.whaleroadreview.com/hoffman/
Thank you @katiemanningpoet.bsky.social for this beautiful issue, and congrats on 8 years of Whale Road Review!
December 10, 2023 at 5:00 AM
My poem "Hinge" about the mice in our cabinet and the lonely job of being the mother of a teenager is in the new issue of Whale Road Review.
www.whaleroadreview.com/hoffman/
Thank you @katiemanningpoet.bsky.social for this beautiful issue, and congrats on 8 years of Whale Road Review!
www.whaleroadreview.com/hoffman/
Thank you @katiemanningpoet.bsky.social for this beautiful issue, and congrats on 8 years of Whale Road Review!
Waiting for a leaf to fall.
October 24, 2023 at 3:55 AM
Waiting for a leaf to fall.
When I was a kid, I was so shy, and so intent on being perfect, that when I slit my hand open in elementary school, I let it bleed until I felt lightheaded (more with anxiety than blood loss!) and finally passed out in the nurse's office. I still have the scar. #poetry #OCD
October 6, 2023 at 8:35 PM
When I was a kid, I was so shy, and so intent on being perfect, that when I slit my hand open in elementary school, I let it bleed until I felt lightheaded (more with anxiety than blood loss!) and finally passed out in the nurse's office. I still have the scar. #poetry #OCD
@nimrodjournal.bsky.social published this as the final poem in their new issue, and it just happens to be the final poem in my forthcoming OCD-memoir in prose poems, EXPLODING HEAD (Feb 2024). This poem represents an end, but it is also a beginning. A tiny voice speaking up. Thank you, editors!
October 4, 2023 at 8:15 PM
@nimrodjournal.bsky.social published this as the final poem in their new issue, and it just happens to be the final poem in my forthcoming OCD-memoir in prose poems, EXPLODING HEAD (Feb 2024). This poem represents an end, but it is also a beginning. A tiny voice speaking up. Thank you, editors!
The sky tonight. Before the storm.
September 13, 2023 at 4:39 AM
The sky tonight. Before the storm.
