iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

A quiet morning, a small creature going about its day, trusting the light to hold. A special thanks to the folks @bloominonionlit.bsky.social for first publishing my poem "Groundhog."

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Groundhog

A morning lesson in living simply

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

It’s poetry reading time. Today, I’ll be sharing my poem “The Risk of Unfolding,” a finalist for The Bournemouth Writing Prize and published in its anthology. Find a cozy spot, settle in, and join me as I read. @bournemouthjournal.bsky.social

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Having conversations with my father was never easy, even when I was living in another country, building a life of my own. Sometimes memories got in the way. Sometimes I bit my tongue. Sometimes I let him talk while I simply nodded along.

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Reposted by Sam Aureli

Psaltery & Lyre @psalteryandlyre.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

I don’t forgive him, not yet, / but I let their love for him stand, / a stone I don’t need to carry." "The Shadow I Keep" by @samaureli.bsky.social‬ psalteryandlyre.org/2026/01/26/t...

Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

We just had a snowstorm, the kind that makes everything go quiet and a little unreal. I kept thinking about this poem. What better time to share Into the Cold? Grab a blanket, your favorite hot drink, and snuggle up.

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Into the Cold

You can’t outrun what knows your scent

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Learn the language of trees. Quiet the mind, soften the heart, and listen. Reposting "Listening" outside of my Substack.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

What if the world is always speaking, and the only thing we’re missing is the patience to hear it? This poem continues my effort to slow down enough to listen: to the wind in the trees, to the quiet conversations unfolding beyond my own thoughts.

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Listening

What becomes audible only when we're willing to pause

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

I used to sprint through life, consumed by work. Then a seismic jolt forced me to slow down and notice the small, quiet things. In that stillness something shifted. The earth’s words rooted in me, growing into the poems I write now.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Poetry changed me. Now the earth has my full attention. I'd like to thank Amethyst Review for first publishing my poem. It is now available on my Substack.

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The Time It Takes to See

Poetry changed me. Now the earth has my full attention.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Reposting my poem, "Serendipity" outside of my Substack. We all know what it is to be scorched: by grief, by change, by the sudden breaking of what we thought was solid. We know what it is to be stripped back to the bare rock of ourselves. But the burn is not the end.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

We all know what it is to be scorched: by grief, by change, by the sudden breaking of what we thought was solid. We know what it is to be stripped back to the bare rock of ourselves. But the burn is not the end. Like the saxifrage rooting itself in volcanic stone, something in us still stirs.

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Serendipity

An ode to the purple mountain saxifrage

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

I’m so excited to finally share official news of my upcoming poetry collection, On the Edge of Knowing (Kelsay Books), arriving early 2026! More soon, but for now, here’s the first look at the cover.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Do you ever find yourself just walking, or doing something ordinary, and you get the sense that the air around you is tightening, whether anything’s actually wrong or not?

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Walking Past the End

The stories we invent when we feel an ending coming but don’t know what it is

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

I found these photos while organizing my photo library, and I can’t remember where I was, other than somewhere in Massachusetts, circa 2017. I’m still mesmerized by all that green, the kind that feels like the world is quietly reclaiming everything.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

Grief doesn’t fade on command. It changes, lingers, and sometimes feels like weather you learn to live with. I would like to once again thank @prosetrics.bsky.social for publishing my poem.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

"The Cold Still Knows My Name" is on the somber side. Wrote it after realizing grief doesn’t fade on command. It changes, lingers, and sometimes feels like the weather you learn to live inside.

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The Cold Knows My Name

Grief knows the trick of picking locks, of slipping back in unnoticed

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

I wrote this poem after spending some time working in the asparagus patch. Nature has a lot to teach us, and sometimes the best lessons are waiting right in our own backyard. First published in @prosetrics.bsky.social .

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Today you find a poem and a short interview. My poem, “Conversations with My Father” was published in Brawl Literature.

brawllit.com

Sam Aureli — BRAWL

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

I am beyond words. My first Pushcart Prize nomination! A special thanks to Venessa Tai Yeh and Opol for nominating my poem, "Made and Unmade." 😊 Below is a excerpt of the poem.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

In the slow rhythm of the garden, I’m reminded that renewal begins long before anything blooms. “In the Waiting” is a meditation on pruning, patience, and the quiet faith of tending what endures beneath the surface.

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In the Waiting

Pruning what has passed, making space for return

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

I was going through my photo library, looking for a specific image for a future poem, when I came across this black and white photo of my hibiscus plant. I love how the monochrome tones make the petals appear even more delicate, almost like thin, translucent paper.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Ever since my trip to “God’s Country,” I’ve been writing more about faith, religion, and my complicated relationship with both. The photo was taken on the side of the road through Grand Teton Park. Something about that place still lingers.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

A thousand shades of dust and sage, and one patch of gold brave enough to shine. Pinedale, WY Population 2,034 Elevation 7,175 feet

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

One benefit to early morning work commutes. The Boston skyline viewed from Memorial Drive.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

A foggy September morning, the world fading into gray. These shots were taken on the road from McCall, ID to Missoula, MT, right before the climb through Lolo Pass.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

“We look at the world once, in childhood. The rest is memory.” — Louise Glück A moment revisited: danger, tenderness, and the kind of rescue that doesn’t always come.

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The Day My Father Ran Barefoot After the Dog

A childhood prose poem in the key of Richard Siken

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

I'm super excited that one of my poems has been shortlisted for the Bournemouth Writing Prize—though I'll have to wait another two months to learn the final results!

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

More leaf-peeing in the yard. I happen to catch the light just right peeking through the maple leaves.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

“How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.” — John Burroughs

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

Before the frost, a final blaze of color. My blueberry leaves turning red, before fading into quiet.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

“I don’t know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed.” —Mary Oliver, The Summer Day

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Reposted by Sam Aureli

Rough Diamond Poetry @rough-diamond1.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Perfect Christmas present and great reading! Available internationally from Amazon! Leave us a review 🥳 www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=100+poem...

amazon.co.uk

Amazon.co.uk : 100 poems for the 21st century

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Sometimes the act of watching light arrive feels like its own kind of prayer. This poem began in my backyard, before the sun, when quiet felt almost holy.

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Dawn Prayer

A meditation on dawn, silence, and the art of being still

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

I’ve spent a lifetime not only working in cities, but designing and building their monuments to the sky. “The City Asks for More” is a poem about what we give to the city, and what it keeps. About exhaustion, beauty, and the small rebellions that still sing. First published in @crowkeys.bsky.social

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

“The City Asks for More” is a poem about what we give to the city, and what it keeps. About exhaustion, beauty, and the small rebellions that still sing. Grateful to the @crowkeys.bsky.social editorial team for publishing my poem, now available on my Substack.

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The City Asks for More

After Charles Simic

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

My poem, “Walking Past the End,” published in @crowkeys.bsky.social . A huge thank you to the editors.

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Reposted by Sam Aureli

Chestnut Review @chestnutreview.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

Mark your calendar! Autum 2025 (7:2) Issue will be released on October 15th. Look at this gorgeous cover, by “Unseated” Briana Gervat.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

What helps you hold on through the silent hours? Do you find meaning in the struggle, or in the moments beyond it?

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To Survive

Gathering the scattered fragments of hope

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

Somehow, this poem slipped through the cracks. “Unafraid” was published in Roots & Words from Iron Oak Editions and West Trade Review. If you’re feeling lost in the dark, waiting for the light to return, remember: beauty can rise from the ashes.

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"Unafraid" by Sam Aureli

Trill: Poems that Resonate from Iron Oak Editions and West Trade Review

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Reposted by Sam Aureli

Rough Diamond Poetry @rough-diamond1.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

We are so excited about this! Can't wait to start reading entries! Head over to the website for full submission guidelines...where you'll also find another submission opportunity!💎💎💎

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

The patient wading of the blue heron. Stillness made visible. Honored to have Blue Heron appear in Humana Obscura, Issue 14. Deep thanks to Leslie Waugh for the stunning photograph that walks beside the poem. You can now read it on my Substack. ☺️

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Blue Heron

Learning the grace of what comes or what does not

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

Thrilled and deeply humbled to share that my poem has been longlisted for the Bournemouth Writing Prize by The Bournemouth Journal @bournemouthjournal.bsky.social ! Huge thanks to the amazing editors for this incredible honor. Feeling inspired and grateful! #bournemouthwritingfest

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

My poem, 'The Day My Father Ran Barefoot at the Dog,' was just published in Unbroken #47. A special thanks to the editorial team. www.theunjournals.com/unbroken47

theunjournals.com

Unbroken | Issue 46 | Summer 2025

Prose poems for y'all.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Excited to share that my poem is out in the Fall ’25 issue of @Songs of Eretz (theme: Digging). Huge thanks to the editors for including it. Think sea turtles, moonlight, memory, and the kind of knowing that runs deeper than thought. You can now read it on my Substack.

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The Body Recalls What the Mind Lets Slip

A poem about return, memory, and the pull of what we can’t name

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Thankful that @doorisajarmag.bsky.social recently accepted 4 of my poems, "Cicadas," "The Knowing of My Name," "Arrival," and "A Light That Remembers,” which will be included in their Winter 2025 issue.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

My latest poem, Beyond the Veil, first published in Bainbridge Island Press, POETICS: Corvids, now available on my Substack.

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

My father’s office was always off-limits, a sanctuary, and a mess. After he passed, I was finally allowed in. This poem came from the quiet hours of sifting through his papers, trying to understand a man who will always remain partly a mystery.

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The Weight of His Chair

Shortlisted in The Good Life Review 2025 HoneyBee Prize

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

My father’s office was always off-limits—a sanctuary, and a mess. After he passed, I was finally allowed in. This poem came from the quiet hours of sifting through his papers, trying to understand a man who will always remain partly a mystery.

open.substack.com

The Weight of His Chair

Shortlisted in The Good Life Review 2025 HoneyBee Prize

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

In the rings of a tree, we read time; in their absence, we feel the weight of our unmaking: a poem about trees, silence, and loss. Thankful to the editors of @thomasonianmag.bsky.social for publishing my poem, 'What We've Unmade,' in their inaugural issue.

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What We've Unmade

A poem about trees, silence, and loss

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Sam Aureli @samaureli.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Coming soon! Three of my poems will be included in Issue 05. ☺️

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