There’s alot of verbiage circulating out there about “making closure.” What doesn’t get said or written about is how time-comsuming making closure actually is. So…. this blog will be on hiatus for the next 5 weeks, as that packing of up boxes and the clearing of spaces — actual, virtual, physical, spiritual, and artistical — happen.
Clearing the space is alot of work. But sometimes, often, that work is thrilling. In an old file cabinet at my office in the university, I actually found a break up letter from a boyfriend that I’d kept for — no kidding — 39 years. It felt mighty fine to throw that letter away with all the Starbucks cups left outside the Language Placement Exam classroom. The letter was in French too — so — appropriate, n’est-ce pas?
Wishing everyone a vibrant fall. And happy clearing of spaces in order that you can be, do, imagine, write, act, proclaim, activate, help, empower, transform in the ways that mean something to you.
Stephanie Barbé Hammer is a magical realist prose fiction writer, novelist, occasional essayist, and a committed, intermittent poet, as well as a passionate instructor of writing. A 7-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize she has published work in Hayden's Ferry, Pearl, CRATE, Rhapsoidia, NYCBigCityLit, the East Jasmine Review, Apeiron, Inlandia, Literary Alchemy and the Bellevue Literary Review among other places. She is the author the fabulist novel THE PUPPET TURNERS OF NARROW INTERIOR (Urban Farmhouse Press), a novelette, RESCUE PLAN (Bamboo Dart Press), a prose poem chapbook collection, SEX WITH BUILDINGS (dancing girl press), and a poetry collection, HOW FORMAL (Spout Hill Press).
Stephanie's new novel PRETEND PLUMBER is available for order from your favorite bookstore, and her poetry chapbook CITY SLICKER appeared in July 2022. Stay tuned for her novella, JOURNEY TO MERVEILLEUX CITY, coming out in 2023!
View all posts by Stephanie Barbé Hammer
2 thoughts on “pardon our dust while we make closure”
Sometimes time off is the best way to set things straight. Looking forward to to your return.
But sometimes, often, that work is thrilling. In an old file cabinet at my office in the university, I actually found a break up letter from a boyfriend that I’d kept for — no kidding — 39 years. It felt mighty fine to throw that letter away with all the Starbucks cups left outside the Language Placement Exam classroom. The letter was in French too — so — appropriate, n’est-ce pas?
Stephanie Barbé Hammer Writing (Un) Real 
Sometimes time off is the best way to set things straight. Looking forward to to your return.
thanks, writing friend!