"a refreshingly honest analysis of the sacred journey.” Phyllis Barber
Confessions
It’s 1975, and like every young Mormon couple, Jon and Maureen will start their life together with a temple wedding. But first, they must participate in the preparatory Endowment Ceremony which turns out to be full of shocking experiences like agreeing to have their throats slit or to be disemboweled if they ever speak of the secret things that happen inside the temple. In spite of this horrifying start they go through with their wedding the next day and begin their life together. Thirty years later Jon announces he is leaving the Mormon Church, and all that repressed trauma rises up as Maureen examines how those early covenants affected her. She is battling her own lack of faith in a church that is becoming more conservative every day. Still, the journey to her own decision to leave the Mormon Church is deeply convoluted, unraveling the places where Mormonism controls her and those places where it fills her spiritually. In the search to tell her own truth she finds that in the end the only thing that really matters is her own sanity.
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New Review in Red Branch Review - by Andrew Dash Gillman
"Confessions" is now available at Weller Book Works
I will be reading and signing books at The King's English on September 3rd at 6:30 pm
Books can be bought at TKE
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"Whoever said suffering is optional was never a member of my church."
Utah Humanities Books Awards
Thank you for the nomination. I am humbled to be among this group of poets: Matthew Tuckner; Chengru He, and Kieron Walquist.
Latest Works
2025 Publications
2026
- Releasing the Ghosts: Stillwater Review (Print)
- Would They Believe You: Thimble Literary Magazine; https://www.thimblelitmag.com/2026/04/16/would-they-believe-you/
- After Brain Surgery: Midsummer Dream House https://midsummerdreamhouse.com/blog/onlinejournal/after-brain-surgery
- Furrow: Black Coffee Review https://www.blackcoffeereview.com/spring-2026/you-are-here-by-diana-raab-copy-1
- 8mm Film: 1961: Blue Earth Review
- British Museum: After Brunch Journal; https://afterbrunchjournal.com/2026/05/17/british-museum/
- Necropolis of the Infants: Triggerfish Critical Review
- Tucked In: Triggerfish Critical Review
- Not Today: Avalon Review
- Six Minutes of Total Darkness: Night Picnic; https://www.nightpicnic.net/vol-9-issue-1
- Gravity: Night Picnic ; https://www.nightpicnic.net/vol-9-issue-1
- Until the Water Recedes: Pine Hills Review
- Sunday Afternoon: Glassworks Magazine
- Another March: Soul Forte; https://instituteforspiritualpoetry.com/issue-22-1
- Pilgrimage: Exponent II
- Packing for the Eclipse: Catamaran Literary Journal
- Runes, Fences, Before I Fall Apart, Signals, Salt, Thursday, Hoarse Voice, Men at Funerals, The First Time I Called Him Laura: Ginosko Literary Journal Nov 2026
- Alizon Device: The Broken City
- Apparition of Mary: 1917: Fresh Words Magazine
- Glastonbury Green and Forest Therapy: Tipton Poetry Journal
Poetry Award 2024
Best Poetry Book 2024: Association of Mormon Letters
2026 Utah Humanities Book Award Finalist for Notable Reads
Plan a Workshop
Maureen is available for readings, podcasts and workshops. Please contact her at maureenrclark@gmail.com
Hello
New Poem Out in Midsummer Dream House: After Brain Surgery
Poetry by Maureen Clark
A Country Without You
A Country Without You has been accepted for publication by BCC Press in 2028