 During his time at Purdue, Penberthy served as Poetry Editor for "Sycamore Review".His debut collection of poetry, "Lucktown", was awarded the National Poetry Review Book Prize and was published in 2007.His poetry has appeared in many journals, including "Crazyhorse", "Coal City Review", "New Orleans Review", "River Styx", "Bat City Review", and "Poetry International", as well as online by "Blackbird" and "Verse Daily".