Lit & Phil
May 2025 - Issue 2
May’s Recap
I usually only send one email a month, and this is it: a roundup of the majority of what I’ve written (or celebrated) over the past few weeks. Below, you’ll find notable updates, poems, essays, recommended reads, and any events to look out for next month. If you’re a new subscriber, then welcome! A longtime reader/paid contributor? Your support truly fuels my craft, so thank you!
[May’s Substack Desktop]
Exciting News!
Astral Academy (my second novel) is complete and in Submission.
I am long-listed for a writing contest with Tadpole Press.
Literature and Philosophy made the top #87 Rising in Literature this month! This rank is based on paid subscribers, and a few other engagement metrics. So, thank you for helping me achieve this exciting (albeit fleeting) milestone.
I’m currently being mentored by Natasha Rao at pocket MFA for poetry.
May’s Poems
Small Stands
·I am my Mother’s Daughter.
Her partner brought home arms
full of Carpenter Bee boxes.
Twelve wooden coffins.
So she burned them in the fire.
They deserve to live
their tiny lives
unburdened
by obtuse tries
to rid ourselves of everything
undesirable.
May’s Essays
Poetic Asymptote
·There's a beautiful paradox in poetry, but the concept stretches beyond the page and across the human experience. The greatest poems don't explain, they approach. They edge toward what can’t be captured. They reach toward the unsayable, brushing against something profound, something we’re intuitively familiar with but struggle to articulate.
The Effects of Alcohol on The Artist
·The Artist & The Drink: What’s really going on? Which regions are impacted? What happens to focus, emotional depth, and the language centers when alcohol enters the bloodstream? Let’s look at the neuroscience, one region at a time.
5 Part Series - Words You Should Know as a Writer
(Cont’d)
May’s Recommended Reading
(Poetry) Good Girl and Other Yearnings by Isabelle Correa
(Nonfiction) Underland, by Robert Macfarlane.
(Fiction) Cloud Cuckoo Land
IN JUNE
June's Writing Contests & Opportunities
·These lists are to help you submit your work without information overload. Let’s keep progressing your story.
Reminder: This is not a full list of everything posted/created over the last month, so drop by, say hi, and join the conversation, on Substack!
So much exciting news this month! Congratulations!