Soft

Like dog ears

Good morning.

Annnd happy long weekend, if you have one. I have senioritis for my two-week PTO barreling down on June 6th. I have a big list of options for where I want to go, who I want to see, what I want to do. And writing is a big one. More to come here on Substack, though I’m still not really finding my “tribe” on the platform. It’s enough to reach out to you, fine reader, each and every Sundee.

It’s been a strange--I don’t know--two years? But I keep landing here: I love good people, and they love me.

I want us all to do what’s best for us.

So, shall we?

The Five W’s are:

Writing (What’s up with my projects? What’s up with my community and writerly friends’ projects?)

World (A quick-hit on the news and the hopelessness of it / how I plan to be of service lest utterly breakdown).

WooWoo (Witchy shit, astro, tarot, etc.)

Words (A little poem or excerpt I’ve written recently, usually with the above-mentioned writing community)

Wonder (An inquiry: a question for you, dear reader, to consider or comment on in the post).

Let us wander, you and I…

Writing Finished Emily’s book so hard on Friday; last 100 pages at a whack. And I think I may have been cured, that I can read again now. Today’s “Wonder” inquiry comes from All That Life Can Afford’s heartthrob, Callum. We’re holding a little Book Club later; excited to see if Reese joins us 😛

In other writing news, we are holding an Open Mic on Thursday for Litso and the magazine edits are done! And so we’re off to the layout stage, finally.

World It’s the corruption for me, honey. I find, at least, I’m “looking away” less. The trick (and I had a handle on it once) was to control the firehose of updates on this country and others around the world, who are run by megalomaniacs and the cuntiest cunts ever born. So, part of the PTO plan: read condensed news like Vox for a growing amount of time per week, but never more than an hour. Will we all still want to be denizens of Earth when all the effects of these actions land upon us? I also have been getting trickles of hate media (there are only two genders, Roseanne Barr, etc.) in my Substack feed, which I’d like to try and banish.

Or maybe I’ll just read more.

WooWoo Just a concept I woke up thinking about and want to share: Nonduality. The idea that there is no separation, and so we really only perceive it and then suffer from it. So, an image: Say that existence is a big ball of light in space. Every living thing is dissolved into this unified ball of light. Then you wrap the ball of light in black plastic or cloth or whatever. Then you start pricking holes in that wrapping so streams of light shine through. So one point of light is the tree in your backyard, and one is a man lost in the woods in Russia whom you’ll never meet, one is you--sitting there reading this wherever you are--and so on. I don’t love using AI, but I did for this image so you could better ponder this idea alongside me, if you wish.

Words In response to “Losing Your Senses” from Write Yourself Out of a Corner by Alice LaPlante in which you must write a scene without sight/visuals

“Heidi”

I’m lying in my mother’s bed with the dog in my arms. She smells like clean laundry and her chest is soft beneath my fingers. We both heave a sigh. She’s a good size, like a small person. I think about her skeleton a lot. What moves beneath the softness, around the breathing lungs. Sometimes I think her whines are bones squeaking or creaking or letting off steam. She’s usually whining softly, or puffing air out through her wet leather nose. We’re lying there on Christmas night and I’m hungover. The TV is on and I can hear the muppets chattering to Michael Caine’s Scrooge. The rats in the cold office yell, “Heatwave!” Sing 🎶 This is my island in the sun 🎶 which is the part that made my ex-husband crack up, slap his rough hand on his knee, lean into me. The old familiar ache grips my dry heart. Then Heidi sighs again, and her ear twitches across my nose, and I hug her all the tighter.

Wonder Would you like not to be lost?

Wandering with you,

KayKay