SUMMER BREAKUP (2025-2026):
An interdisciplinary project combining mosaic, poetry, video art, and zine-making.
A year-long commitment to seasonal poems, offering a slow, intentional journey cycling through the stages of a breakup.
I began with making video art documenting the act of breaking up a meaningful object (see below), then integrated its shards into a sculptural mosaic.
On the centerpiece mirror I wrote an original poem: a text that blends biology, heartbreak and the Jewish custom of Shmita.*
A year-long commitment to seasonal poems, offering a slow, intentional journey cycling through the stages of a breakup.
I began with making video art documenting the act of breaking up a meaningful object (see below), then integrated its shards into a sculptural mosaic.
On the centerpiece mirror I wrote an original poem: a text that blends biology, heartbreak and the Jewish custom of Shmita.*
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Shmita*
On the seventh day God rested From all the work He had performed On the seventh week from beginning the harvest You shall make the Shavuot holiday to your God And on the seventh year of our breakup Not one single cell Would be left in my body That has known The touch of your hands And thus I could Finally Release you. |
"Shmita" (2025): Porcelain, wood, mirror, acrylic
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*Shmita is a Jewish custom - a sabbatical year in Jewish law, occurring every seventh year. On a Shmita year (a "release" year) the land is left fallow, debts are forgiven, and a general sense of releasing is observed.
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Next I compiled Shmita (translated to English, and now published in The Jewish Poets Collective Journal) and five additional original poems to create Summer BreakUP: A Poetry Zine.
In August 2025 hard copies of the zine were printed and distributed at multiple Bristol venues: From cultural hangouts like The Arnolfini and Watershed, to bookshops like Second Page and The Last Bookshop, and many other literary and artistic hubs around the city. Hundreds of Bristol readers picked up the zines, read the poems, and were moved by them. Some readers took the opportunity to write back of the impact the poems had on them. I view that dialogue as an essential part of this work. |
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After publishing the Summer Zine and reading feedback from readers, I found myself cycling through various emotions, which brought up memories of other cycles:
The menstrual cycle; The astronomical cycle; The cycle of the seasons... My mind buzzed with all these connections.
I didn't fight my intuition. I let the natural course of my feelings set the tone.
My heart called to make this journey into a cycle of zines:
A quarterly poetry zine. One for each season. A full year of poems, cycling through a breakup.
The menstrual cycle; The astronomical cycle; The cycle of the seasons... My mind buzzed with all these connections.
I didn't fight my intuition. I let the natural course of my feelings set the tone.
My heart called to make this journey into a cycle of zines:
A quarterly poetry zine. One for each season. A full year of poems, cycling through a breakup.
So I set out on a year-long project of poetry and zine-making:
In Autumn 2025 I published the second installment, titled Let It Fall. In Winter 2026 came the third, Keeping Warm Without You. Lastly, in Spring 2026, the cycle was finished with Spring's Budding Beginnings.
All the zines were printed and distributed in bookshops, art hubs and small cafes around the UK and the USA. From The Strand in New York City to Gay's the Word in London, from Bristol's Lyra Poetry Festival to Brooklyn's The Ripped Bodice. Everywhere the zines went, readers responded to the poems.
Please enjoy the digital zines and take a moment to share your thoughts.
In Autumn 2025 I published the second installment, titled Let It Fall. In Winter 2026 came the third, Keeping Warm Without You. Lastly, in Spring 2026, the cycle was finished with Spring's Budding Beginnings.
All the zines were printed and distributed in bookshops, art hubs and small cafes around the UK and the USA. From The Strand in New York City to Gay's the Word in London, from Bristol's Lyra Poetry Festival to Brooklyn's The Ripped Bodice. Everywhere the zines went, readers responded to the poems.
Please enjoy the digital zines and take a moment to share your thoughts.
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I started by smashing a mug.
Then that mug requested to be made into sculptural art.
Then that art requested to have words.
Then those words requested to be compiled and shared.
As more poems flowed out of me,
and as I saw them reflecting the passing of the seasons,
they whispered to me: Commit to this practice.
A full year's cycle of breakup poems.
Then that mug requested to be made into sculptural art.
Then that art requested to have words.
Then those words requested to be compiled and shared.
As more poems flowed out of me,
and as I saw them reflecting the passing of the seasons,
they whispered to me: Commit to this practice.
A full year's cycle of breakup poems.
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