22 Comments
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Mia's avatar

It's always such a treat to see your writing in my inbox, and the way you describe these pieces of writing is often how I have felt about yours over the years ❤️

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Holly Burns's avatar

Aw thank you! This is so kind!

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Sheila Finnegan's avatar

Years from now, your daughter will not remember what the necklace looked like, but she will most certainly remember that you took her back and searched, together, for it. So there’s that.

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Melanie Cipher's avatar

I have for many (many!) years been searching for a poem I read in college that described the feeling of menstrual cramps as the snapping of cartilage in a deer carcass, which sounds disgusting and like a terrible poem but which I remember hitting me like a perfect bolt of lightning that that is EXACTLY what menstrual cramps feel like. It was, I think, just generally about being a woman and how honestly bloody and visceral womanhood can be (“feminine” should really mean something different). Sadly, that’s not enough for google to find the poem for me. So I really feel you on this post and hope you find yours!!

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Holly Burns's avatar

Aghhh now I want you to find this too! Okay, if I end up finding my lost texts, I'm moving straight on to looking for yours!

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Charlotte Witherspoon's avatar

Used my academic library access for good: Lacuna by Peter Joliffe, published in the Sunday Times on 21 September 1997. I DMed you a screenshot of it on Instagram (from @cttespoon)

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Holly Burns's avatar

Oh my gosh WHAT!!!!! This is INCREDIBLE! Thank you so much! I honestly could cry right now.

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Jules Fitz Gerald's avatar

YES to more poetry! I am always the target audience for a Prufrock reference lol. Also if you haven’t already encountered it, Barbara Kingsolver’s The Lacuna was the book that taught me that word, and it’s one of my faves. Here’s hoping the crowdsourcing of Substack sleuths might turn up the other two texts you have lost! (So bummed for your daughter’s necklace though…I feel like a lengthy and fruitless parking lot search is a sad rite of passage for us all.)

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Holly Burns's avatar

Ooh I haven't read that Barbara Kingsolver book, will add to the list! And yes, you can always count on me for a Prufrock reference hahaha

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Kari Baumann's avatar

Ok there were these books I read as a kid (mid 80s) from the public library and it was a series and each of the books was about a woman and they all ended up being like moms and daughters (so slightly different time periods). Sort of Laura Ingalls Wilder and proto-American Girl vibes. I remember the one about the youngest had a big thing about playing hide and seek outside with all of her cousins. Does anyone want to solve this one for me???

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Holly Burns's avatar

Argh, I wish this sounded familiar to me, but nothing rings a bell!

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Jennie Canzoneri's avatar

I loved this! And I'm so glad you found at least one of the missing pieces. This mostly made me wish I could find all the things I used to tear out or cut out or print out from my pre-internet/peak angsty days. I really had a lot of poems and quotes taped to a lot of walls back in the day.

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Renee's avatar

I don’t think this is the right one since it doesn’t have the Simon & Garfunkel reference, but it’s worth reading: https://www.wbur.org/news/2014/05/09/childhood-asthma-stress-motherhood-cure

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Holly Burns's avatar

You're right, not that one -- but it's good!

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Loring's avatar

This New Yorker piece about losing things is incredible. I finished it in the Powell St BART station standing in front of the exit turnstile because I couldn’t bear to return to the above-ground world until I’d read every word. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/02/13/when-things-go-missing

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Nicole Barlass's avatar

“One Art” is one of my very favorite poems. I often recite it to myself when I am looking for something. I really miss those days of reading and writing as well. For a time, I wanted to be a poet and spent lovely days reading poetry and crafting my own writing. Your writing is so vivid and I always enjoy reading your pieces. Also, love the meme!

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Mel's avatar

Rachel Cusk? I have a vague tickle of a notion that she’s a writer who’s lived in America and England, and went to boarding school and had asthma - she might fit the mould, maybe?

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Holly Burns's avatar

Argh, such a good thought but I don't think it's her -- I searched her name on The Guardian (and generally) and nothing familiar comes up. But thank you!

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Carla's avatar

Mine is a piece that Jennifer Gilbert wrote years ago- about the enduring pieces of relationships that stay with you. I loved it, I saved it somewhere, I have no idea where.

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Holly Burns's avatar

Oh man! I bet she could find it though, right?!!

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Cristen Hemmins's avatar

I hope you will let us know if this post helps you find either of the missing pieces.

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Holly Burns's avatar

Yes! Commenter Charlotte above managed to find the Lacuna poem -- amazing!

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