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Poetry, essays, and other works by Shannen Maher.
Explore the Collection
Survival as an Ongoing Attempt is a collection of 37 poems about mental illness, medication, love, shame, memory, and the ordinary work of remaining alive.
Moving between clinical language and intimate confession, Shannen Maher examines the distance between appearing functional and actually being well. These poems resist turning survival into something beautiful simply because it happened. Instead, they attend to what survival often looks like in practice: taking the prescription, cooking the rice, leaving what diminishes you, calling someone, and waiting for morning.
Darkly funny, psychologically candid, and deeply human, this collection is for anyone who has had to build a life while still learning how to stay inside it.
Digital edition · EPUB format
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In a riverside retreat in northern Laos, Lena teaches yoga and leads strangers in devotional song. She feels close to God when she sings, but drinks in secret to get through the hours between classes.
The Words Were Holy is a quietly dark, intimate story about addiction, faith, and what it means to guide others when you’re struggling to care for yourself.