I'm excited to have my poem "Memento Mori" published this week by Phil Lit. It's a slightly creepy poem about pianos and metronomes. Enjoy, and please read the entire wonderful issue at simplebooklet.com/phillitfall2...

I fell prey to one of the oldest scams: I'll get gas in the morning.

If you watched this in church youth group, I hope, like me, that you have a good therapist.

That's a lot of work they are wanting that B flat to do. But ok.

After a hellish week, I knew what I had to say to my husband. "Let's go grab a greasy cheeseburger and fries for dinner." Amen. Thanks be to God.

It's hard to know how we are supposed to keep going about our lives with all this constant shite.

Second week of classes just started and already the student sickness emails are mounting. 🤒

When I was a little girl, Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Quimby series was incredibly important to me. I felt a special kinship with Ramona that I have never outgrown. I decided to reread it in my fifth decade. Here is what I discovered. open.substack.com/pub/kelliedb...

Teacher friends, I need recommendations for an edition of Crime and Punishment, possibly an annotated one, to help me supervise a faculty mentored research project on that and music. Music studies is my area. I'm rusty on Dostoevsky. #academicsky #literature

Editing an essay to reduce the word count. And now the word count is higher. Writing is hard.

I had two poems published this week about the many ways water can speak to us on our spiritual journeys. I orient them from my own Christian tradition, but also offer the ways water transcends one religion to a more universal conduit for our growth and healing. open.substack.com/pub/kelliedb...

My MIL is visiting, and I'm definitely not hiding in the bathroom (actually, yes, that's exactly what I'm doing)

I'm not sure I have another Canvas set up in me. #academicsky

I don't know if it is a brilliant or terrible decision to reread this book right now. I read it as a senior in high school, and I'm sure I understand very little. So, I want to see how my 54-year-old self gets it.

When you go to Wendy's for an emotional support Frosty and get a cool spoon as a bonus.

Well, I've already had a morning. Said some choice words to the AI phone robot who could not understand my responses.

The Golden Notebook

The books we read can tell a lot about what is happening in our lives at any given time. They form a type of physical journal. Here are some thoughts about the beloved books that have traveled with me on my journey. open.substack.com/pub/kelliedb...

I got my royalties statement today. It feels pretty good to still be selling 53 copies in the past 6 months of a 5-year-old academic book. The Sound of Hope still has some wind beneath its wings.

My sweet husband took me on a date last night to distract me in this difficult season of 2 parents in hospice. He wanted to see Sketch, about a kid's drawings that come to life. He told me it might be too kiddie. Gentle reader, it turned out to be a horror movie and about did me in.

Some thoughts about transitioning through seasons of life (childhood and eldercare) and about the long-ago joys of a Sears Wishbook catalog. open.substack.com/pub/kelliedb...

There is such strength and hope in small things.

Is that gunfire, fireworks, or thunder? The nightly question in East Tennessee

I want to read all the books, but I'm so tired. This feels like my permanent reality.

Book fair today

*me and my book project

I sometimes turn on a classic country radio station, what my parents listened to when I was a kid. There can be a lot of wisdom in the storytelling and humor. Yesterday, I heard a song with a chorus that said, “Work your fingers to the bone and what do you get? Boney fingers"

I had to sign up my father for hospice today. My inner child needs a personal pan pizza, and she's going to get one.

I'm so disheartened. Two very ill parents in their 80s in a skilled nursing facility. They have paid health insurance premiums for over 6 decades and now coverage is cancelled after 6 weeks.

I got a Google Scholar alert today that an academic article I published in 2003 was just cited in a 2025 dissertation in Puerto Rico. So that was cool that someone would still find my research relevant because that article was quantitative based on my own dissertation.

Thankful for friends who gift you this kind of candle.

I was researching vintage toys, and it started showing me things from 1991. I feel attacked. 😵‍💫

My son is bringing his girlfriend to our house for the first time today. And I'm unwell. Chronic illness means you don't know when you are going to have a bad night or a bad day. In addition to physical pain and nausea, I have anxiety from symptom stress and poor sleep. Send prayers/good vibes.

I'm in a life season of caring for elderly parents & making tough decisions. People readily talk about the child-rearing stage. It is naturally positive and life-giving. But this elder-care stage runs counter, decline & death. We have to look harder for hope. Thank goodness for fireflies.

This is my love letter to fireflies and how they can be beacons of hope during difficult times. open.substack.com/pub/kelliedb...

I just broke out the cheese and my other favorite stress eating snacks.

My latest poem explores how doubts and questions are not the enemy of our faith, but a conduit to deeper knowledge of the divine. www.foreshadowmagazine.com/magazine/mea... #poetry

I have a new poem (“Eucharist”) published in Foreshadow. It explores physical and spiritual nourishment. It feels like a very timely acceptance as I am beat down both physically and spiritually by my parents’ failing bodies and minds. www.foreshadowmagazine.com/magazine/euc... #poetry

Happy fifth anniversary to my book about musicians during the Holocaust and World War II. I hope this story about pianist Alice Herz-Sommer is meaningful to you. open.substack.com/pub/kelliedb...

I miss Kmart.

Sharing this again in case you missed it. Thanks to @writesloud.bsky.social for the workshop that helped me know what form it should be.

A few words on searching for the place where we can be the truest version of ourselves. open.substack.com/pub/kelliedb...

I missed that a "pet" zebra has been loose in my state for several days. Run, zebra, run. www.bbc.com/news/videos/...

In the span of a week, both of my parents have had to move to a skilled nursing facility. I am having a crash course in navigating geriatric healthcare plus trying to get all of their affairs in order. It is overwhelming like a firehose to the face. Prayers appreciated.

I have a new poem out this week in On Gaia Literary Magazine. "Totem" was a difficult poem to write and to release into the world as it speaks to painful childhood moments that I was good at masking with a smile. ongaialit.wixsite.com/home/kellieb...

My lastest post is an intersection of grandmother love, sock monkeys, and there’s a cat. Something for everyone. open.substack.com/pub/kelliedb...

Sneak peek: My newsletter tomorrow will be about sock monkeys. If you don't want to miss it, please subscribe. It's free. open.substack.com/pub/kelliedb...

This is all the writing prompt we need. Thankful for the generosity with which they bloom in my flower bed year after year with no help from me. #writingsky #poetry

My poem "Fruit of the Spirit" was published in Yellow Arrow Journal’s latest issue, UNFURL. YAP is a nonprofit organization that publishes creatives who identify as women. Please consider supporting them by purchasing a pdf or print copy. www.yellowarrowpublishing.com/news/yaj-unf...

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