The difference one day, one conversation can make

…today was a beautiful day

The prompt is after the 📚📚📚 and the daily sorting after the 💖💖💖

📚📚📚

Create a blackout poem using elements of collage

I made this strange poem at a wondrous art gathering of four adults and two children. It was a magical afternoon.

I made the poem from page 11 in this book.

A book I found outside in a free basket next to the local pharmacy. It is a remarkably thoughtful book. And page 11 made such a good base for poetry.

I also finished my “tiny zine”.

(I think about idioms A LOT)

💖💖💖

I have spent the last week and four days pondering the possibility of the end of a significant friendship.

Today I woke up feeling calm. Good.

Then an email from my friend. The friend. Arrived in my box asking for a chat.

Because I had done the processing and was feeling good, I said yes. I needed closure.

…but closure is not what I got.

My friend and I got the most wonderful reboot. A resetting of expectations and discovered that the both of us had been making daily space for each other thinking that was what the other had wanted. We tried to pinpoint the moment when our friendship had turned that corner.

…and…

We laughed. We cried. We had both come to the conversation expecting that something terrible could happen.

…but something beautiful did. It turns out our friendship was built on such a strong foundation of mutual trust and respect that it was absolutely capable of being rewritten, of finding a new chapter. That our friendship was a sort of…entity of its own that had grown up out of love, honesty and mutual weirdness.

And this break we had was just the thing we needed to retroactively review the things that had led us up to the moment of overwhelm.

And here I am at the end of the day, my whole body in a state of calm. Joy.

My catastrophizing, processing, grieving and accepting helped me come to the conversation with a whole lot of hope.

We both listened. We talked about everything. We decided together that we’d chat a couple times a month, and that we would send letters…which is my favourite thing. The slowing down of our friendship was exactly what we needed. The reminder that we didn’t (and never) needed daily contact. That we were on the same page.

…and then I got to go sit with a group of artists.

…and another friend sent me a fantastic voice message this morning.

I have to make dinner. But I’m feeling better than I thought was possible. Relaxed. Calm. Happy.

I’m seeing 2025 with new eyes.

I can get back to working in my community on the things that help this tiny corner of the world. In the hopes that you’ve got your tiny corner and a community working with you.

I’m sending you big love. I love that new beginnings are possible when two people are willing to compromise, do the work, and re-start from a loving position.

Heart,

Wake

If you’d love to hear two writerly friends meeting for the first time you might enjoy this episode of Curious & Kind Conversations with Jade Wallace, author of Anomia, and the poet responsible for one of my favourite books of poetry, Love is a Place but You Cannot Live There