gathering

all the ordinary failures - 8.5”x11” collage

After the wound closes, who are you? When all that you are is scar tissue in the shape of who you used to be? When you have wrestled with gods, and angels, and devils, with others and with yourself. When you’ve prevailed but now you walk away limping. There is a moment when the name you once carried no longer carries you.

along old possibilities - 8.5”x11” collage

There is a temptation to gather all your shattered remnants quickly. To piece them back together where you found them. But, “This sore gathering takes time,” John O’Donohue says. Sometimes we need patience more than we need to be mended.

the craft of the way - 8.5”x11” collage

If there’s anything I’ve learned from making collages, it’s that the fragments aren’t asking to be returned to the state they held originally. They only ask to be accepted. To be reclaimed and rearranged. To have the chance to be transformed into something different. Sometimes being fixed doesn’t mean we’ll exist in the same way we once did. Sometimes being whole means finding completeness within the absences.

the will is conscious - 8.5”x11” collage

May you have patience with your slow gathering.

May your fragments form a whole new architecture.

May you limp gracefully, with a different name to carry.

In case no one’s told you today, I love you with all my everything.

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p.s. Jill McDougall and I will be hosting a live zoom call with the incredible Michael J Gillette on 6/28/26 at 2pm EST. Paid subscribers are invited to attend, to listen in real time, and to ask questions in the chat. You can find the zoom link here.

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p.p.s - all the featured collages are available for purchase here.

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