She is a graduate of Cornell University, the University of Michigan and the University of Northern Colorado. She also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College.

Patterson's poems have appeared in numerous publications including:
    The Southern Poetry Review
    The Louisville Review
    The Sun
    The Madison Review
    The Malahat Review
    The Indiana Review
    Another Chicago Magazine
    The Mid-American Review
    The Willow Review
    The Montserrat Review
    The Bloomsbury Review
    Willow Springs
    The Colorado Review
    The Midwest Quarterly
    Many Mountains Moving
    Coal City Review
    New Letters

Her poem “Postcards” won first place in the Peregrine poetry contest (Amherst Writers and Artists), and her poem “Three Photographs Not of My Father” won first prize in the 1997
Salt Hill Journal poetry competition at Syracuse University. 

Her essay “Comfort Me with Apples” appeared in the Spring 1997 The Georgia Review.

COLLECTED WORKS
Patterson's  collected works include Swan, What Shores? which was a finalist for the Academy of American Poets’ 2000 James Laughlin Award and won annual poetry awards from both the Colorado Center for the Book and Women Writing the West. 

     How to Make a Terrarium
    Cleveland State University, 1987

    This Is the Strange Part
     Pudding House Publications, 2002

She has also published a collection of her poetry and the photography of Ronda Stone, The Bones Remember: A Dialogue  (Stone Graphics Press, copies available from the author at veropatt@yahoo.com).

Patterson has taught classes and led workshops, including one for adults grieving the loss of a loved one.  This innovative workshop was developed and is presented in conjunction with Nancy Jakobsson, Bereavement Services Manager, Hospice of Larimer County.