Love may end at a particular moment, yet its emotional presence can continue for months or even years. Memories settle into familiar places, unanswered questions return, and ordinary objects begin carrying unexpected meaning. Rylie Martin explores this complicated aftermath in Heartwood, a six-poem collection shaped by grief, attachment, anger, and renewal.
Inside the Emotional Landscape of Heartwood
The six interconnected poems in Heartwood follow the gradual unraveling of a relationship that once appeared permanent. Rather than treating separation as a single event, the collection examines the many feelings that surface afterward. Longing, tenderness, frustration, resentment, and uncertainty move through the poems with a natural emotional intensity.
Rylie writes about the desire to be chosen and the pain that develops when love begins to feel unstable. Her poems consider how easily a person can become absorbed in a relationship, especially when affection is accompanied by uncertainty. The speaker must eventually confront what has been lost, along with the parts of herself that became difficult to recognize.
Each poem represents another point in the healing process. Grief gives way to protest, protest encourages reflection, and reflection slowly creates room for acceptance. This movement provides the collection with a clear emotional structure while allowing every poem to hold its own atmosphere.
The poems never suggest that recovery happens neatly. Some feelings return just as others begin to fade. Affection can survive beside anger, while gratitude may remain connected to disappointment. That emotional complexity makes the collection approachable for readers who understand that letting go rarely follows a predictable schedule.
The Natural World as an Emotional Language
Nature plays an essential role throughout Heartwood. Forests, rivers, mountains, weather, wildlife, tree rings, and geodes become a language through which the speaker can understand her experience. These images bring emotional states into the physical world, making sorrow and recovery feel almost visible.
Tree rings are especially meaningful because they preserve a record of growth. Every season leaves evidence behind, including the difficult ones. The image reflects one of the collection’s central ideas: painful experiences remain within a person’s history and become part of the life that continues growing around them.
The title strengthens this message. Heartwood refers to the inner wood of a tree, the dense core that supports its structure. Within the poems, heartbreak begins to resemble that core. Pain may become deeply embedded, yet it can also contribute to endurance, awareness, and a stronger understanding of the self.
Geodes offer another fitting symbol. Their plain exteriors conceal complex formations, much like people carry private emotional worlds beneath an ordinary appearance. Rivers suggest continued movement, while mountains convey effort, distance, and perspective. Borrowed light brings a quieter meaning, raising questions about dependence, identity, and the search for an inner source of strength.
Everyday belongings also appear throughout this poetic landscape. Objects left behind may seem insignificant to anyone else, though they’re capable of holding entire chapters of a shared life. By placing these personal details beside expansive natural imagery, Rylie connects private heartbreak with something ancient and universal.
Love, Loss, and the Return to Self
Heartwood speaks to anyone who has struggled to accept that a meaningful relationship was temporary. The poems recognize that an ending doesn’t erase sincerity. A love can have been real even when it was unable to last, and its value can remain after the people involved have moved in separate directions.
This understanding creates space for a more compassionate form of healing. The speaker doesn’t need to dismiss the past to move beyond it. She can acknowledge the beauty, examine the harm, and carry the lessons forward without continuing to live inside the relationship.
Anger receives honest attention as well. It emerges as part of the mind’s attempt to understand broken expectations, emotional imbalance, and the fear of having given too much. As the poems progress, that anger becomes a source of clarity. It helps the speaker recognize her needs and begin rebuilding the boundaries that love may have blurred.
About the Author
Rylie is a poet, memoirist, educator, traveler, and storyteller based in Columbus, Ohio. Her work frequently explores belonging, identity, grief, relationships, recovery, and the search for home.
She’s the author of Malu, a travel memoir about walking 410 miles along the Camino de Santiago in Spain, as well as its prequel, Temporary Belongings. Her writing is influenced by long-distance trails, unfamiliar roads, teaching, nature, quiet spaces, and the people carried in memory after departure.
She shares her poetry through social media, her website, live readings, and open mics across the country. When she’s away from the page, she can often be found hiking, traveling with her rabbits, or gathering new stories from the road.
Carrying the Past Into a New Season
Heartwood is an intimate exploration of what remains when a deeply felt love reaches its end. Its six poems give grief room to speak while gently guiding the reader toward self-recognition and acceptance.
Through its memorable natural imagery, the collection shows that healing involves learning how to carry the past differently. The relationship may be over, though its lessons can become part of a stronger inner foundation, supporting the person who continues forward.
We had the privilege of interviewing the author. Here are excerpts from the interview:
Thank you so much for joining us today! Please introduce yourself and tell us what you do.
My name is Rylie Martin, and I am a writer, poet, educator, and traveler based in Columbus, Ohio. I work in literacy education while also writing and independently publishing books inspired by travel, relationships, grief, identity, and belonging.
I am the author of the travel memoirs Malu and Temporary Belongings, as well as the poetry collection Heartwood. In addition to publishing, I share my work through live poetry readings, social media, and my website. My goal is to create writing that feels honest, emotionally resonant, and deeply connected to place.
Please tell us about your story and journey.
Writing has always been one of the main ways I understand my experiences. My journey as an author grew from travel, teaching, and the desire to preserve moments that might otherwise disappear.
My first book, Malu, was inspired by walking more than 400 miles across Portugal and Spain on the Camino de Santiago. That journey challenged me physically and emotionally, but it also gave me a greater understanding of independence, connection, and the meaning of home. Temporary Belongings explores the experiences that led me toward that journey and the people and places that shaped me along the way.
My newest collection, Heartwood, was written during a period of heartbreak and major personal change. The poems move through longing, protest, grief, reflection, and acceptance. Nature became the language through which I could express emotions that were sometimes difficult to explain directly.
My writing journey has not followed a traditional path. I have balanced creating books with teaching, traveling, performing at open mics, and learning how to promote my work independently. Each project has helped me become more confident in my voice and more willing to share vulnerable work with others.
What strategies helped you become successful in your journey?
One of the most important strategies has been allowing myself to begin before I feel completely ready. Writing a book, publishing it, or reading a poem aloud can feel intimidating, but confidence often comes after taking the first step rather than before it.
Consistency has also been essential. I try to keep writing, revising, sharing, and connecting with readers even when progress feels slow. Small actions—attending a reading, posting a video, giving someone a business card, or revising one page—can gradually create meaningful opportunities.
Thank you so much, Rylie Martin, for giving us your precious time! We wish you all the best for your journey ahead!
