His poems have appeared in “African American Review,” “Agni Online,” NPR’s “Writer’s Almanac”, “Harvard Review,” “Ploughshares”, “Salamander,” “5 A.M.” and numerous other publications. His first collection of poems, Holding Ground, was published by Four Way Books (NYC) in 2013. Violent Blues, his second book is due out in 2016. Willard is a graduate of Middlebury College with a BA in American Literature and holds a MFA from Bennington College’s Writing Seminars program.