Kirk is a teacher, poet, and tennis coach living in Edwardsville, IL. He received his B.A. in English with a minor in History from Truman State University, his M.F.A. in Poetry from Southern Illinois University Carbondale where he was a Master's Fellow, and will receive his M.A.T. from McKendree University in the spring of 2020 with certifications in both secondary English Language Arts and Social Sciences. 

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Kirk's poetry has won the Frontier Poetry Award for New Poets, judged by Victoria Chang, and has been a finalist for the Indiana Review and Yemassee Poetry Prize. His M.F.A. thesis, First the Blade, was named Outstanding Graduate Thesis for SIUC for 2017 and was a finalist for the 2020 Jake Adam York Prize. 

 

His poems have appeared in numerous publications, including RHINO, Nimrod, Passages North, Grist, Frontier Poetry, Ninth Letter, Natural Bridge, Greensboro Review, Green Mountains Review, Zone 3, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and Connotation Press among others. 

 

For a selected listing of Kirk's publications, please see the Poetry tab. For a full listing of honors and awards, please see his resume and CV.