The Assemblage Newsletter #69
Welcome to this week’s newsletter from Assemblage. These newsletters go out every Friday to highlight some of the top works from the past week. We hope these links (all friend links, so anyone can view them) find you relaxing into the end of a long week, getting ready to curl up on the couch for some much-needed me-time.
“The words of kindness are more healing to a drooping heart than balm or honey.” — Sarah Fielding
Give yourself the gift of kind words first, but don’t forget that others are just as much in need.
Featured Writer
Each week we feature one of our writers and up to six of their essays or poems on the homepage underneath the Featured Essays and Featured Poems sections. This week our Featured Writer is Kara B. Imle. Kara is a memoirist, poet, SourcePoint practitioner, and Rolfer. She lives on a small island off the western edge of sanity.
Collection
Collections are groupings of essays or poems with an overall theme. You can find Collections on the home page underneath the Featured Stories, Featured Poetry, and Featured Writer sections.
On Childhood features 8 different works from 8 different writers all with a nod to childhood. This section is a great way to get acquainted with multiple works around one theme, as well as to find writers you haven’t read before or ones you shouldn’t miss. Take a look at our Collection this week and see what you may have missed.
On Childhood features one work each from Jessica Lee McMillan, Brian Fehler, Lance Baker, Chloe Cuthbert, Jonathan Greene, Samantha Lazar, Lisa Alletson, and Arlene Ambrose.
Essays and Poems From Last Week
“Lost in a circus of mimeography
I spill words like a cup of water
into that plant in the corner of the room
to bring it back to life
with the remnants of my mouth”
This Is How My Childhood Ended by Em Unravelling
“I would sit for hours, cloistered and hungry in his bedroom, afraid to draw attention to my presence by going downstairs for snacks. I learned to take sandwiches with me for the hunger, to bring a book to read. I didn’t question the way I was living. I thought it was the price of experiencing a passionate love.”
“brushed in solitude,
wishing for the kind of mystical moment
only the stars could bring
and the silent moon would envy.”
Why You Should Never Be Someone Other Than Yourself by Melissa Kerman
“However, changing yourself to be more palatable to others hurts a little bit, forever. You’ll gasp for air yet wonder why you feel breathless; you’ll search for the antidote in everyone but yourself.”
You Can Never Enjoy the Moment Because You’re Thinking About the End by Arlene Ambrose
“Our bodies and minds care for us. Everything they do is an attempt to protect us. It’s our job to sort out the real danger from unwarranted fear. Pain gets our attention.”
When You Kiss Me with Your Eyes by Simran Kankas
“when you kiss me
with your eyes
my heart flutters like
a thousand butterflies”
When Our Savior Never Came by Bradley J Nordell
“when the key maker,
shall open those doors,
closed with shame,
barricaded concealed,
history, covered in grief.”
Weekly Note
“The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of because words diminish your feelings — words shrink things that seem timeless when they are in your head to no more than living size when they are brought out.” — Stephen King
But we still have to say them. Say your words. Spill your words. And allow them to have meaning outside of your head.
