About Me   

Thomas Phalen is an Irish/American dual national. He retired from practicing law to devote himself to writing poetry and prose fiction. Among other journals, his poetry and stories have been published in The Lune (chapbook of 21 poems Useless Lodestone and Other Poems), The Blue Mountain Review, The Muleskinner Journal, Icarus, The Wild Umbrella, Third Wednesdays, SBLAAM, Written Tales, Wilderness House Literary Review, Harrow House Journal, The Scop, Does it Have Pockets?, ArLiJo Arliington Literary Journal, and Cider Press Review. His chapbook of 27 poems, Losing My October, will be published by Finishing Line Press in May, 2027. He was a four-time contributor in poetry at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in Middlebury, Vermont, and in Erice, Sicily. He obtained his Master of Philosophy degree in Creative Writing from the Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. He is a founding editor of The Muleskinner Journal. He has published two poetry chapbooks, more than a dozen single poems, several short stories and two creative nonfiction pieces, during his late-in-life writing career. He suffered the life-threatening loss of his wife, Stacie Schimke, the Forever Love of His Life, while he was a student at Trinity College. The trauma of that loss has become the singular defining event in his life and his poetry explores the love they shared, and the grief, horror, sorrow, and despair that death carries in its wake. He lives alternately in Phoenix, Arizona and in Dublin, Ireland.

Conferences

Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, August 15-25, 2018, and August 14-24, 2019, Contributor in Poetry.

Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Middlebury College, Erice, Sicily, September 22-28, 2019, and September 20-26, 2020, Contributor in Poetry.

 Education

Brophy College Prep, a Jesuit High School, Phoenix, Arizona 1970-1974

Pomona College, Claremont, California 1974-1977

Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, M.Phil in Creative Writing, Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing, Dublin, Ireland April, 2025