This is a space for the stories that linger. You’ll find Slavic myths retold, original poetry, book reviews, and honest writing about the creative life — the work behind the work, and the life behind the work. Old stories have always carried something we haven’t quite named yet. That’s why we keep returning to them.


I approached Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead with the particular wariness reserved for books that arrive already garlanded with praise. The Pulitzer. Oprah’s Book Club. Raving reviews online. The kind of unanimous applause that makes a reader suspicious before they’ve even cracked the spine. I was wrong to hesitate. The Boy Behind the…

Gods, spirits, and old tales

Poems for the moments that don’t fit

On writing, making things, and building a creative career

The debate about how to teach reading has been going on for more than a century. Reading instruction methodology has undergone a myriad of changes…

But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st; Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade, When…

‘…she rather needs keeping down than bringing forward; and then I think, monsieur—it appears to me that ambition, LITERARY ambition especially, is not a feeling…

I’m Erna — writer, poet, devoted cat lady, and a marketer who came to it the strange way, through stories. Slavic mythology sits at the heart of this space, alongside original poetry, book reviews, and honest writing about the creative life.
Pull up a chair. There’s always something worth reading.
Beneath the Surface is a poetry collection about the things we don’t say out loud — the secrets, the weaknesses, the quiet monsters of everyday life. Read more.
New myths, new poems, new stories — whenever they’re ready.