a treasured mess

hey friends,

instead of fighting or fleeing, my emotional response to the <disappointment> of last week has been to hermit—an intentional retreat into a peaceful isolation from all that could disturb me.

so: well-loved books; copious amounts of tea; cocooning in oversized blankets, and crafting

this

for you.

-SN

the story

trashed work

this isn’t a writer’s block

this is a human’s quagmire

a sensation of a slow drowning

of being mired in a muck

stuck and stumbling

grasping at old ideas

unwilling to accept

new revisions

the trashed drafts were better

the current work isn’t progressing

i’m all over the place

even in this place

where i built myself a home

with the coziest of friends

reading and listening

with the warmest receptions

even here

with you

i’m over this place

not our home

no never that

but the icky mucky swamp thing

that has been sucking down my voice

robbing it of its resonance

i note the pitchiness of my lyrics

and i apologize for belting this warbling tale

i’m messing up

and i’ll get out of this mess

the conversation

the question

what if you’ve become so at home in the stink of the bog that the prospect of breathing fresh air petrifies you more than the putrid offerings of the present, sticky situation?

the curation

since i’m feeling all snuggly and cozy and hermit-y—not in a bog, but in a proverbial cottage in the woods—here are some snuggly and cozy and hermit-y things that i came across recently:

• bookbinding artisans

• a classical music playlist featuring the pieces referenced in Haruki Murakami’s novels

• “healing fiction” where “There’s always a cat.”

the playlist

i only added three tracks this week to our November playlist, mostly because i’ve been trying to pay attention to the sounds of my rage dampening into a soft slumber and my sobs soothing themselves into a mere sniffle.

so we have a cathartic Joni Mitchell choice, a nostalgic Norah Jones selection, and an uplifting Corinne Bailey Rae hit.

go put your playlist on. :)

the readings

TIME magazine has released “The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024”—from that list, i recommend:

• The Book of Love—on life’s second chances

• The Bookshop—a love letter to bookstores

• Funny Story—the latest by Emily Henry

• Martyr!—the writing will be perfection

• Your Utopia—wherein the author implores her readers to imagine “a better world for both you and me.”

please let me know if you end up reading one of these or any of the other ninety-five books from that list!

the community

sigh

so…

it happened.

eee!!!

the good stuff

“Love is when someone else’s hurt makes you hurt.”

“I never truly noticed how much love is in every laugh, every hug, and even every cry that was shared between my friends and I.”

“To accept impermanence means to agree that everything will eventually come to an end, from small things like your eraser on your pencil to bigger things like marriages, relationships, or even life itself.”

—teenagers on love

the awe

“Poetry isn’t like eggs made to order, of course. It’s hard to cook up a collection of words for a specific palate; the process is more alchemy than science.”

now add the pressure (cooker) of being asked to write a poem on behalf of humanity.

the affirmation

you free you

the archives

this week’s story reminded me of the (first) story in on words and onwards.

well, this was short!

in brief

and in gratitude,

-Sarah Narei

the thumbnail

photo by Jack Hunter on Unsplash