Thanks for visiting. 

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I'm the author of Line Study of a Motel Clerk (Baobab Press, 2017), a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award and the Ohioana Book Award. The collection focuses on a trucking motel, a laundry, and diasporic culture in the Rust Belt. My chapbook Poppy Seeds (Kent State University Press, 2013) examines relationships in Ohio while studying Yiddish in Lithuania. 

My poems have appeared in Best American Poetry, The Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day series, The New Republic, The Missouri Review, Dusie, and elsewhere, and are forthcoming from The Oxford American, The Arkansas International, and The Laurel Review. My article examining the implications of reading Objectivist poet Charles Reznikoff in interminority frameworks was published in Studies in American Jewish Literature. 

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My work has been supported by Stanford University's Wallace Stegner program, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the Severinghaus Beck Fund for Study at Vilnius Yiddish Institute. I hold a PhD in English and Creative Writing, and I've taught creative writing and literature courses for Ohio State University, Stanford University's Continuing Studies Program, Tennessee Wesleyan University, Bethany College, and Northeast Ohio Medical University.

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My research interests include the Rust Belt, labor and gender studies, experimental poetics, and Jewish and diasporic culture. Please reach out to me using the contact form if you'd like to discuss a book review, workshop, manuscript consultation, or collaboration. If you're struggling, know that I care about your art and health, and I'm committed to working on ways to make our field more equitable. 

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Note on pronunciation: Pitinii is pronounced pih-TEE-nee, from the Greek "Ptinis."