A Little Update: Two Raw Sugars

A small shift toward something sweeter.

I started this Substack writing essays.

Substack is a predominantly essay-driven platform, and at the time, it felt like the only way to belong here.

But I’m a poet at heart, friend. And a poet always follows her heart (even to her detriment?).

Cut to six months later: I’m so sick of writing essays that I find myself dreading Substack.

I studied English literature and writing studies, and I feel like I’m back in school dragging myself to my desk just to hit a word count.

What I really want—and what feels most true to my work—is to offer poetry.

So from here forward, I’ll be sending you two emails a month, each with a brand-new (often Substack-exclusive) poem, along with a short note about what inspired it, what I’m noticing, or what stayed with me long after the poem was done.

Along with this shift, I’m also renaming the newsletter: Two Raw Sugars.

The title comes from a poem I wrote about the quiet, unsuspecting ways joy finds us—even when we don’t ask for it, even when we try to resist it.

That poem is also the title piece in my forthcoming collection, The Size of Your Joy, so it felt right to lean into it here too.

Poetry has always been how I make sense of the world— a way to hold the bitter and the sweet in the same cup.

That’s what I hope Two Raw Sugars can be for you too: a small, intentional delight to stir into your month.

Thanks for sticking around through this little transition (and all the sugar puns).

I appreciate your support more than you know.

With love,
Elise