Dara Laine Member Member since 2025

nature, grief, liminal spaces--ya know, the usual.

Poetry

I grew up on a hay farm in New Jersey near the Jersey Shore and have lived in Baltimore for 16 years and counting.

My prose poem “Telling the Bees” won the Bellevue Literary Review's 2026 John & Eileen Allman Prize for Poetry, judged by Patricia Spears Jones. This came in the middle of my goal to submit 365 times in one year.

Currently, I'm working on two poetry manuscripts: Unpicked, shaped by the sudden death of my father, and The Body Counts, a chapbook built around angel numbers (which has been an exciting and challenging way to stretch myself stylistically).

When I'm not writing, I lead crunch numbers and fight the good fight at the National Women's Law Center in Washington, D.C. I am grateful to love my job and my hobbies and to spend my career in service of others. When I'm not doing either of those things, I walk slowly, float in pools, and play with my nieces: most recently, digging for sand crabs!

Location:

21211, MD

Birthdate:

9 April (39 years old)

Social:

Blog/web

Instagram

Medium

Threads