Lisa Zerkle

After many years of writing and editing corporate communications and as an advertising copywriter, Lisa Zerkle turned her attention to poetry. "Advertising and poetry share similar rules: using an economy of words to express the most in the least amount of space. But poetry is a much more satisfying craft," says Zerkle, co-editor of Kakalak: Anthology of Carolina Poets.

Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in poetry journals Crucible, Ocean, Thrift Poetic Arts and Main Street Rag. Her poems have also appeared online at www.literarymama.com. In 2005, her poem "How A Poet Wins Scrabble" took 2nd place in the Deane Ritch Lomax Poetry Contest sponsored by the Charlotte Writer’s Club. Two other pieces took honorable mentions in the same contest. In 2004, her poem "Obsequy" took first prize in the Jubilee Literary Arts Festival. Many poets native to the Carolinas have been instrumental in nurturing Lisa Zerkle’s passion for poetry including Anthony Abbott, Cathy Smith Bowers, Maureen Ryan Griffin, Irene Honeycutt and Diana Pinckney. She is an avid reader who particularly enjoys the works of Margaret Atwood, Billy Collins, William Faulkner, Stephen King, Barbara Kingsolver, Flannery O’Connor, Mary Oliver, Carol Shields and Paul Verlaine.

Zerkle earned a BA in English and French from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. She has worked for advertising agencies in Atlanta, GA, New Orleans, LA, Cincinnati, OH, and San Diego, CA. She currently resides in Charlotte, NC, with her husband and their three children.