Jessica Margaret Brophy is a New Jersey native and a poet who writes about family quirks, nature's luster, childhood foods, the body, and spiritual identity. She is also a scholar of the sublime, addressing issues within women's studies and the black aesthetic of African American female poets. She has published scholarship on the poetry of Sharon Olds, Jean Toomer, Paulette Childress White, and Rita Dove. She teaches as a freelance academic at both Lynchburg College and the local community college. Among other journals, her poetry has appeared in Natural Bridge: A Journal of Contemporary Poetry, Alimentum: The Literature of Food, and Awakenings Review and is forthcoming in a special poetry anthology of Blue Lyra Review, Parts of the Whole: Poetry of the Body. Only until she began writing about the port wine stain birthmark on her face (about three years ago) was she able to find a language to write about anything else. She knew her first collection of poetry would have to be about who she was before finding this language-the observing, questioning, reflecting child. Brophy is currently the creative writing editor at The First Unitarian Church of Lynchburg, Virginia, organizer of a monthly series called "Poetry Talk" at Africa House, and has recently begun offering writing consultation services to young professional women at www.beautyfullwriting.com.