1. Poetry: Letter to the Others in the Dark and Right in the Middle of the Day from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, a love letter to the ones who cry in languages no one’s ever translated from christopher sexton, Love letter from the afterlife from Andrea Gibson shared by Patti Digh, and On Non-Attachment from Julie Barton. And also, these:

2. Remembering Andrea Gibson. My social media feeds have been flooded this week with all things Andrea, and if it were up to me, they would stay that way forever. Here’s just a few things that were shared: 

~From Tiny Pricks Project

• Andrea Gibson, a Poet of Love, Hope and Gender Identity, Dies at 49 on The New York Times. (gift link) “A master of spoken-word performance, Gibson insisted that poetry, especially when read aloud to an audience, was a political act.”
• The Poet Who Advocated Radical Tenderness on The New York Times. (gift link)
• Some Days I Can’t Swallow the Sky: In honor of Andrea Gibson from Jeannine Ouellette on Writing in The Dark.
• How big is your voice? “Meeting Andrea Gibson for the first time, in a snowstorm” by Patti Digh.
• This collection of poems and posts in honor of Andrea: The Best Teacher from Julia Fehrenbacher, when andrea spoke, my scars stood up and clapped from christopher sexton, Ticket Holders (for Andrea Gibson) from Shane Koyczan, When a poet dies from Leslé Honoré, In the Good Light on The Weekly Pause from James Crew, and The wild current of love and grief flowing from Jen Lemen.
• And the best, most heartbreaking of all, Andrea’s wife Megan Falley is going to keep posting to Andrea’s blog, Things that Don’t Suck. Here’s the first two tender posts: Andrea Gibson 8/13/75 – 7/14/25, “The poem isn’t over. A letter from their wife, Meg” and A List of Things I Want To Tell Andrea, “Now that they know everything.” 

3. Looking, “and looking at your looking” on Poetry Unbound by Pádraig Ó Tuama.

4. Good stuff from The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz: Confessions of a Radical, Woke Leftist and The I.C.E. Atrocities Should Be the Final Straw for Decent Human Beings and What to Do If You’re Losing Your Faith.

5. 7 Simple Shifts to Trade Overwhelm for Joy on Be More With Less from Courtney Carver. Also on Be More With Less, 10 Gentle Ways to Break Up With Your Phone (Without Missing It) from Tammy Strobel.

6. From Seth Godin: Lunging and Resilience is a practice.

7. The Everything in Everything. “The biggest puzzle of all right now – what on earth to do about it all?” on bimblings by Josie George.

8. Put down your need for validation by Laura Lentz on Writing at Red Lights.

9. Procrastination can wait from Danny Gregory.

10. Scrying the Photograph, “Using images to access the unseen,” a cool writing exercise from Alix Klingenberg on Earth & Verse.

11. Everything Is Fine And So Am I, “Postcards from the edge of despair,” a comic from Connie Sun.

12. What it means to stay open-hearted in a wounded world on Nonviolence Radio. “Canticle Farm co-founder Anne Symens-Bucher on grief, forgiveness and the wisdom of environmental activist Joanna Macy.”

13. This “Snail Mail Swap” Is Rewriting Adult Friendships. I miss having pen pals.

14. 99 Compliments That Are Meaningful And Memorable.

15. Why memento mori is the ultimate life hack. “A mid-flight scare reveals how embracing death can bring purpose and meaning to everyday life.”

16. Sweden’s Secret to Well-Being? Tiny Urban Gardens on The New York Times. (gift link) “Known as koloniträdgårdar, they provide city dwellers access to nature, fresh produce and community.”

17. ‘Too loud’, ‘too messy’, ‘too much’ … why should women be expected to shrink and shut up? on The Guardian. “As Lena Dunham’s new show reminds us, whether they’re at work or on a date, women are expected to tone it down if they want to get on. What if they refuse to play ball?”

18. What Would a Real Friendship With A.I. Look Like? Maybe Like Hers on The New York Times Magazine. (gift link) “Chatbots can get scary if you suspend your disbelief. But MJ Cocking didn’t — and wound up in a relationship that was strangely, helpfully real.”

19. Bridget Everett on how she ended up as “Somebody Somewhere” on CBS Sunday Morning.

20. Maddie, a Coonhound Who Awed Instagram by Balancing on Things, Dies at 14 on The New York Times. (gift link) “In thousands of photos, Maddie stood tall and seemingly unbothered atop fences, cars, road signs and tires, garnering 1.2 million Instagram followers along the way.” Good girl, Maddie. 🐾💔

21. And finally, this random collection of things I saved to my phone this week.

1. Andrea Gibson, 8/13/75 – 7/14/25. “On July 14th, at 4:16AM, Andrea Gibson died in their home surrounded by their wife, Meg, four ex-girlfriends, their mother and father, dozens of friends, and their three beloved dogs…Andrea would want you to know that they got their wish. In the end, their heart was covered in stretch marks.” I knew this was coming, and yet… One of the last comments I left on Andrea’s blog was, “I do not love a world that will someday be here when you are not. I will also one day desperately love a world where you have been, that holds your open heart, your voice, your poetry in the stars and the sun and the grass and the bunnies and and and and…I love you. ❤️” 💔

2. Poetry: Messages from Home and My Aimless Love and When Answering Your Calling and A New Dark Age from Julie Barton, In Passing by Lisel Mueller, and Remember by Joy Harjo. And these:

3. Five Steps to Walk Away from Empire. “On finding new shapes and embracing nonlinear meanders” by Nicholas Triolo.

4. Advice for Getting Through Grief on Lion’s Roar. “Miriam Tarcov on how to navigate the pain of losing a loved one and—ultimately—reconnect with joy.”

5. Dear Fanny, Don’t Worry, I Know You’re Dead. “Ezra Fox on Working With Fanny Howe on Her Last Book.”

6. Choi + Shine Architects Collaborate with Communities Around the Globe to Crochet Monumental Lace Works.

7. ‘I felt pure, unconditional love’: the people who marry their AI chatbots. “The users of AI companion app Replika found themselves falling for their digital friends. Until – explains a new podcast – the bots went dark, a user was encouraged to kill Queen Elizabeth II and an update changed everything.”

8. The River House Broke. We Rushed in the River. “On July 4, the Guadalupe ripped our home from its pillars, pulling my family into its waters and into the night. Then morning came.”

9. Seane Corn and Lama Rod Owens: Steady Breath, Steady Heart on the Sounds True Podcast. “How are you doing these days? Exhausted? Heartbroken? Outraged? All of the above? In this era of uncertainty and instability, you may feel like your only choice is to forge ahead and just get through the week. If so, this podcast with two beloved Sounds True authors was created just for YOU. Here, Tami Simon speaks with Seane Corn and Lama Rod Owens to hear their personal insights for navigating our rapidly-changing world from a place of deep connection to our most important values, to the people who give us strength, and to those with whom we may feel hopelessly divided.”

10. Good stuff from Patti Digh. Reclaiming Sonder: The Profound Realization of Other Lives and The ghosts of becoming: A lineage of selves, lost.

11. Practice Delight, with Ross Gay: Hope Portal, Session 7.

12. The FOMO no one talks about: Am I missing my own life? by Meg Josephson.

13. Journaler’s Routine No. 2: Melissa Febos on The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad. “There are few moments in a day more peaceful and satisfying than these.”

14. 8 Ways to Embrace “Deep Casual Hosting” (So You’ll Actually Do It.) by Katherine Goldstein. “How to prioritize connection over exhausting Instagram expectations.”

15. And finally, this random collection of things I saved to my phone this week.