Narrowing

Well, friends, here we are. 

I couldn’t manage to write a post last week. I wanted to. Wanted to offer words of comfort and courage. I wanted to write about the importance of kindness and hope. The importance of writing—of your words. How books, stories, and poems can be tools of resistance. Of love. I mostly wanted to write about love. How we need to love our way through this. Support and take care of each other. 

But I couldn’t write last week. 

Could you? Can you now?

I’ve talked to writers who can’t write a word, others who are on fire. We all react differently. No right away to process collective catastrophe. 

The morning after the election, someone I work with said something like: We’re social workers. We know how to listen. But it’s time to use our voices. To get loud. 

You could probably sub “writers” for “social workers.” We observe, we listen. We absorb it all, don’t we?

Part of why I couldn’t write, why I’m still struggling, is I’m trying to be [even] more discerning about what I put out. I don’t want to share unless it’s meaningful. So much noise out there. Too much. Social media offers everyone and anyone a platform to speak their minds. People are quick to talk, slow to listen. But we’ve got to do both. 

And there’s another step in the communication process that’s often skipped: reflection. We need to sit with what’s said, what we heard, what we want to say. 

I’ve been doing a lot of reflection. A lot of us have. We’re trying to make sense of things. Trying to decide how best to show up in the world. To move forward. To make change. 

A friend attended a webinar last week that talked about how we can’t give up. How facism has historically gained ground when people have lost hope. That the most dangerous thing we can do is to feel it’s pointless and stop caring.

So that’s what I’ve got: we need to keep going. To hold onto hope. We need to take care. Of ourselves and everyone around us. We’ve got to love. 

Reading Recommendations

It’d be easy to skip this section today, but in the interest of caring, I don’t want to miss the opportunity to show love for writers and their work. Buckle up, it’s a long one… 

Online:  If you’re looking for a smooth, rhythmic poem, I highly recommend checking out “Jazz Is a Journey” by Christopher D. Sims in Jerry Jazz Museum. You can hear Christopher read the poem on the site.

I’m late sharing, but the summer issue of The Kenyon Review had an incredible story by Analía Villagra called “Bloodsucker” that is the most fun I’ve ever had reading about mosquitos. Not only do I love the humor in this story, I’m in awe of how expansive yet condensed it is. You can also hear Analía read it on the site. 

A new Sara Lippmann story is always cause for celebration. “Look Yourself” was just published in Identity Theory and I loved the sleekness and what the jumps in time do for the story.

Books: 

Recently read: 

Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of the authors I’ll auto-read anything they write. I devoured his latest, The Message, which deals with Palestine and explores how our reality is shaped by the stories we tell or don’t. Timely and chilling. 

I picked up Tony Tulathimutte’s Rejection, thanks to Greg Zimmerman’s recommendation on his terrific Substack (this is also a recommendation to subscribe as Greg is a smart reader with the best recs). Rejection is a hilarious and irreverent look at rejection through the lens of a range of characters and situations. I devoured it. 

The last two are forthcoming in 2025 so double as preorder alerts— 

I loved Roya Marsh’s 2020 poetry collection dayliGht, so was quick to say yes to the chance to check out the forthcoming savings time. These searing poems wrestle with Black Joy, collective action, and healing. Definitely worth checking out. 

I read an early draft of Shayne Terry’s Leave: A Postpartum Account, and couldn’t wait to preorder and read my review copy. This important book looks at the complications of healing from a significant birth injury amid a broken health care system and intergenerational trauma, while also examining the link between birth and death. (Side note: I’m 97% sure when Shayne mentions her friend Rachel, she’s talking about me.) 

Up next: 

A third preorder alert: I was in a workshop with Jackie Domenus years ago and can’t wait to dive into their forthcoming memoir-in-essays, No Offense. Dealing with Jackie’s coming out, the book blends personal essay and cultural critique to examine moments and comments people might not realize are transphobic and homophobic. This is another one that should be on everyone’s radar. 

I’m also going to dig into Richard Gilman-Opalsky’s Imaginary Power, Real Horizons, which I got as part of the Seeds of Change book subscription program through Pilsen Community Books. If you’re looking to be more informed about an array of issues (while supporting an indie bookstore!), check out this great program.  

I struggled coming up with a song for this post. But I’m knee-deep in anthology edits and very plugged into the world of Rockford, so a song by a local band feels right: 

Sending you love, courage, and strength. So much love. <3