Rustic Embers

I write what refuses silence

More Entries

The Desert Taught Me to Shut Up

· Life & Place

The Desert Taught Me to Shut Up

Santa Fe in February is quiet in a specific, instructive way. The tourists are gone. The sky is pewter and enormous. The mountains look serious. I moved here partly because I needed a place that would not accommodate noise.

Paired Poem Dreams Unleashed
Puerto Vallarta Adventure

· Travel Journal

Puerto Vallarta Adventure

Puerto Vallarta was short, dusty, funny, and alive: a hop-on-hop-off tour, Jorullo Bridge, ATV through the jungle, tequila somewhere in the middle, and the feeling of having spent two days somewhere actual.

Paired Poem Travel Life
On Writing in Winter

· On Writing

On Writing in Winter

There is something about winter that strips everything back to essentials. The trees bare, the fields blank, the daylight rationed — and I find this season the most generative of all.

Paired Poem Azure Hues
Palm Springs Winter Escape

· Travel Journal

Palm Springs Winter Escape

Palm Springs held Christmas light, warm desert afternoons, dinner at The Tropicale, and the clean edge of finishing Book 1 in a place that felt both restful and clarifying.

Paired Poem Full Moon in Palm Springs
What the Full Moon Does to a Poet

· On Writing

What the Full Moon Does to a Poet

I will be honest: I drove to Palm Springs specifically to look at a full moon. That is the kind of thing that sounds romantic in a poem and mildly unhinged in a journal.

Paired Poem Embrace With Love
The Poems I Did Not Write

· On Writing

The Poems I Did Not Write

Some poems start as fragments in a draft folder and stay unfinished for a long time. I no longer treat that as failure; I treat it as process.

Paired Poem Silver Threads in Shadowed Skies
Belize with Monique

· Travel Journal

Belize with Monique

Belize was joyful in the exact way the notes promised: Monique, her sister, Ambergris Caye, slow meals, turquoise water, and a lighter version of myself by the time I came home.

Paired Poem Whispers of Ambergris Caye
What November Does

· Life & Place

What November Does

First week of November 2023, Belize: I am here with my great friend Monique and her sister, and we are having an incredible time. The sea air is warm, the light is golden, and every day feels open and alive.

Paired Poem Forgiveness Unleashed
On Carrying Scars Like Luggage

· Reflection

On Carrying Scars Like Luggage

I have a scar on my left hand from a fishing hook, age nine. I have a different kind of scar from a conversation in my thirties that reshaped everything. I used to treat both the same way.

Paired Poem We Are the Scars We Carry