Erasure Harvesting

I wrote this poem for a magazine that had the theme of ‘devour’ this month. I think I was inspired reading Hekate.

#poetry #IWD #motherhood
open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

Liberté, égalité, sororité The sisterhood beyond the rhetoric

A special poem for International Women's Day.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#InternationalWomensDay #IWD #Iran #Gaza

Valentine's Day An oral tradition

It's been a while since I wrote something rather tongue-in-cheek…

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #ValentinesDay

D.N.R. A termination

This poem examines the difference between shared origin and shared care.

CW: abusive family dynamics

#poetry #MentalHealth

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

Be kind and rewind A mixtape no one asked for

I need your help! I’ve had major writer’s block for a while, and I need your opinion on this. I have to read it at an open mic this weekend, and the theme is the 90s. I wrote this in 10 minutes.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #90s #music #nostalgia

Lost Boy A Migration

I haven’t written in a while, but this was written in memory of a friend who recently passed.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #grief #loss #bereavement

Baseline Off-measure

Following on from my previous post, this is one of the side effects...

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#Poetry #MentalHealth

Incubus Requiem for a Lost Dream

“To be sick is to suffer in the hands of the living.”
— Emily Dickinson

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #MentalHealth #Trauma

Beware of the Trojan Horse How trust can become a trap

This is for all marginalised communities that have been hurt by hate.

CW: emotional manipulation, extremist communities, trauma.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#HopeNotHate #essay #writing #trauma

Substack burns you out while pretending to be your mate Welcome to the rat race

This is probably relevant for every platform, but I can’t be the only one dying a death trying to keep up with social media...

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#socialmedia #essay #writing

Self-Portrait A Study of Irises

Inspired by Van Gogh’s Irises, painted during his time at Saint-Rémy. The poem reflects on the body as another kind of study.

CW: self-harm, mental health.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #mentalhealth #VanGogh

An homage to witches A survival spell

Well, it wouldn’t be Halloween if we didn’t have something related to the season. But I’ve been thinking about the idea of witches for a while and what women have endured for centuries when accused.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #Halloween #Witches

The Morning After The echo left behind

Inspired by the strength of Virginia Giuffre’s memoir, Nobody’s Girl. There's a content warning with this as a result.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #trauma #mentalhealth #virginiagiuffre

Someone I used to know Fragments from another life

I came across my old journals from more than ten years ago, and they read like some kind of Shakespearean tragedy. But it got me thinking about alternate realities.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #mentalhealth #trauma

Hit-and-run Collision with no recovery

Another short poem to untangle something in my head. Apologies, as always, for the lack of filter.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #MentalHealth

Whose peace? Verses from the Ministry

A short poem in response to our current climate, with a subtle nod to a classic dystopian novel. This has a content warning related to war and state violence.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #Gaza #peace

The devil makes work for idle thumbs Finding pleasure in the pain

Following on from a previous essay on the meaning of life, this is another dark aspect of living with a strange condition. There's another trigger warning with this.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#mentalhealth #writing #trauma #essay

An ode to nicotine A love affair with tar

As a former long-term smoker, I find that the cravings never really go away...

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #poem #addiction

I have no more vices Notes from the underground

Sometimes, not having vices is its own kind of special hell.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #MentalHealth #Addiction

What's a few 'cults' between friends Avoiding the Kool-Aid

After questioning whether online friends are real friends, I found myself wondering: can we also get trapped in the rabbit hole of obsessive groupthink?

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#essay #writing #culture #cults #society

I’ve never understood the meaning of life On the other side of the glass

This is a much darker, far more personal essay than my recent ones about what it’s like to leave your body in order to survive and never be able to return to it. 

Trigger warnings with this one.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#essay #mentalhealth #writing #trauma

Thoughts and prayers Your silence is the killer

As a journalist, I faced the dreadful task of reporting on the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012, which still leaves me shaken. After seeing the words ‘thoughts and prayers’ once more, it set off an avalanche of emotions.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #ThoughtsAndPrayers #GunViolence

Are we really (online) friends? Or is it just in our heads?

As I’ve been writing a lot about friendships, the internet, and AI, this seemed like the next logical thinking point.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#writing #essay #ai #technology #friendship

Looking forward to using dictionaries next week as I apparently further corrupt my students.

Black Mountain A living landscape

This prompt was suggested by a fellow Substacker this week, hence I wanted to take a different approach to this and write something up quickly! This is inspired by having recurrent dreams with this theme.

#poetry #climate #nature
open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

Normal? Out of the frame

I feel this poem may resonate with many who have chased an illusion, only to realise it was not what they wanted. It was a reaction to societal expectations.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #MentalHealth

Who the hell trusts the internet anymore Drowning in digital bullshit

Warning: there’s a bit of swearing in this. It’s hard to avoid given the subject. I wrote it in response to being confronted by someone impersonating another author on Substack.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#essay #writing #misinformation #socialmedia #fakenews

I had dinner with five strangers In search of a tribe

Many people feel ashamed to admit that they’re lonely - I’m one of them. Perhaps it’s alright to find adulting a bit of a challenge.

#essay #MentalHealth #Loneliness #friendship

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

Aftertaste The body keeps the score

This story is inspired by two horror-based writing prompts, which are explained at the end of the text.

Trigger warning: Grief, parental loss, supernatural themes, disordered eating, and graphic descriptions of physical deterioration.
#horror #trauma #writing
open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

Train wreck Living inside a body that feels unsolvable

I tried my hand at writing a personal essay here for the first time. It seems I can’t do abstract, philosophical meanderings. I’ve held off writing this for a while.

Trigger warning: Eating disorders, #weightloss, and body image.
#disability #mentalhealth

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...