Soon to be Forgotten
She sat in the parlora still life of grace.Her hands foldedlike the wings of a bird. He rushed instinking of cigars“Sorry about dinner,”he said absently. “I just came by to changefor drinks with chaps at the pub.Your day was restful I see,”he said without looking. “Be a dear and press my good suit.I have important […]
The First Kiss
It was long ago in the Indus Valleyunder a sky older than memory. Two figures sat close by a fire’s glow.The air between them trembled—a space both fragile and heavy.Their hands reached out,fingers working to learnthe language of touch. Without knowing why,she tilted her face,heart beating wild.Drawn to her he leaned in closer,until her breath […]
Escape from Tolkemit (Video)
In January 1945, the cameras captured Tolkemit, East Prussia, as the Soviet army advanced and the town burned. Less than a month earlier, my mother fled her hometown—leaving behind the family, neighbors, and the familiar shoreline of the Vistula Lagoon she had known all her life. This rare footage shows the place she once called […]
Escape from Tolkemit (Story)
Someone on the train struck a match and lit a cigarette. A man snatched it, stubbed it out, and pressed the blade of a stiletto behind the smoker’s ear. “Perhaps you’d like to radio the Russians to meet us in Tolkemit?” he growled. The train had no blackout shades; every lightbulb had been removed. Katie […]
On the Clock
Light oozes across the room—a slow, golden spill,meandering across the floorforming an inviting pool of warmth. Even the embroidered flowers on my quilt,want to unfurl their petalsas the rays catch on the curve of my shoulders,making them warm as tea and toast. I am not here. I am not there—I am lit from within,more powerful […]
Chasing Light
Inspiration is a flicker in the corner of the eye, a shadow that slips away just as you try to name it. It arrives unbidden—a whisper in the dusk, the shape of a thought caught in a windowpane’s reflection, the warmth of sunlight crawling across the floor. For me, chasing inspiration has always been like […]
Click, Click, Bloom Photography
I took this photo years ago in my dining room, which became a makeshift laboratory of light, water, color and obsession. I was chasing light and reflection. Not the metaphorical kind but actual, shimmering, unpredictable, light-bending reflection. I contrived directional lighting from household lamps that I positioned to bounce the light just so. I taped […]
Prose at Ink & Ember Studio
I’ve always found it easier to bleed through poems—quick sparks of feeling, shaped by rhythm and breath. But prose… prose is slower to light. It asks for a steadier flame, a deeper surrender. Here in this space, you’ll find stories both real and imagined: fragments of memory, glimmers of fiction, and reflections that hover in […]
What My Hands Remember
When I was a baby, my mother would put me in my crib for the night and put a blanket on top of me, one of those easily laundered blankets that back then were kind of rough and itchy. And because my mother was always cold, she would lovingly put another blanket on top of […]
Fresh-Baked Poems
by SteffaniWrites They will arrive.Believe. Artisan breads,They fermentAnd rise. Then punch,They deflateTo rise again. ElasticIn my hands. I knead,Then shape. Pop in the oven—Timer ticking.I peek in,Grinning:Another poem has risen.