Favorite Edith Illustrations of the Year
Plus, two of my favorite poems I discovered in 2024.
Me and Edith have a very efficient work process that mainly involves me asking her to draw something…
AJD: Can we have a big wave about to crash on someone’s head but they’re determined to survive by trying to fend it off using a small bow and arrow? (Branding!)
Enjoy the weekend!
…and her sending back an illustration:
EZ: How's this for a wave? I can of course try again if it's not crushing enough, or whatever
AJD: I love it! Thank you so much.
Etc. We have been doing this a few times monthly for almost seven years. Again — our collaboration is approaching SEVEN years. Incredible.
And year after year she gets more generously inventive with how she draws something that best represents TSB’s essays and interviews. Below are some of my favorite ones we ran from 2024. And if you have a favorite one, why not get it on your skin forever? Just like high-intensity reader Jess M., who became the second person to adorn themselves with a TSB tattoo:
Two small bows, one for each arm. Perfect.
It is also okay to keep your skin pristine and ink-free. You can still help us grow by becoming a paid subscriber.
And if you can’t afford it right now, that’s okay, too—just let me know, and I’ll hook you up.
Now, let’s look at some goddamn art. — AJD
A POEM ON THE WAY IN:
“Apophasis at the All-Night Rite-Aid”
by Catherine Barnett
Not wanting to be alone
in the messy cosmology
over which I at this late hour
have too much dominion,
I wander the all-night uptown Rite Aid
where the handsome new pharmacist,
come midnight, shows me to the door
and prescribes the moon,
which has often helped before.
The Small Bow Is Illustrated
by Edith Zimmerman
FAVORITE ILLUSTRATIONS 2023:
The world is hard. Pass along TSB as a gift this year and let’s do our part to change that.
Also—are you okay?
Our first 2025 Check-Ins run on Tuesday, January 7th —so we need your help. Tell us what’s up with your recovery post-holiday. Tell us about this year. Or next. The good, the great, the awful, the insane. Be truthful, but have faith that bleakness and worry won’t last forever.
Help us help you help everyone.
The perfect length is 150-300 words.
Here's a GREAT example of two we ran last year.
“As a self-proclaimed procrastinator (procrastination is a symptom of my fear), I want to prolong any new year intention setting until the actual lunar new year (1st full moon in February), stay in pjs, drink sugary drinks, eat donuts, and throw myself a new year’s pity party for 1. However, since you inquired, my 2024 mantra will be “I will not abandon myself.” What will this look like, you ask? Healthy, kind, clear boundary setting in all versions of me. One of my favorite New Year quotes to retrieve from the ole’ Facebook archives is, “Hope stands on the threshold of the upcoming year and whispers, it will be happier.”
“It's been a really huge and stressful year. I moved across the world. My anxiety has been terrible, and trying to make it better with medication has unfortunately not panned out. I'm feeling pretty off all the time, but trying to do the things that make me feel better and not lose hope. I feel very grateful to be closer to my friends and even my family. My own substance use has been pretty good this year, with fewer hangovers and regrets. However, in the last few months, my husband, who is already in recovery from one drug, has had issues with another drug, which is extremely terrifying to me and is hurting our relationship. The last time he was in addiction, it blew up my life. I hope next year will be a year of stability and healing for all of us.”
EMAIL US HERE: tsbcheckins@thesmallbow.com SUBJECT: 2025 CHECK-IN
It will be published on TUESDAY, January 7th. Take your time.
Anyone who contributes gets a FREE month of TSB’s Sunday edition. If you didn’t get hooked up last month, please email me and let me know and I’ll get you situated.
(We also donate $25 to the Katal Center each month on behalf of TSB.)
DO YOU PLAN TO WRITE YOUR RECOVERY STORY IN 2025?
JOIN ANA MARIE COX’S THIRD STORY WORKSHOP: WINTER 2025
If you’re in recovery, you have a story—how you got here and what’s happened since.
The Third Story Workshop is designed to help you write the most meaningful version of your recovery narrative:
* Structured prompts to get you started.
* Collaborative feedback to refine your voice.
* One-on-one coaching to make it shine.
The Winter 2025 session kicks off Jan. 21 and runs for 11 weeks.
Ready to tell your story? Learn more and sign up at anamariecox.com/thirdstory.
READ ANA’S SOBER OLDSTER INTERVIEW!
ZOOM MEETING SCHEDULE
Monday: 5:30 p.m. PT/8:30 ET
Wednesday: 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET
Thursday: 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET (Women and non-binary meeting.)
Friday: 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET *4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET
Saturday: Mental Health Focus (Peer support for bipolar/anxiety/depression) 9:30 a.m. PT/12:30 p.m. ET
Sunday: (Mental Health and Sobriety Support Group.) 1:00 p.m PT/4 p.m. ET
* Special holiday meeting
*****
If you don't feel comfortable calling yourself an "alcoholic," that's fine. If you have issues with sex, food, drugs, codependency, love, loneliness, and/or depression, come on in. Newcomers are especially welcome.
FORMAT: CROSSTALK, TOPIC MEETING
We're there for an hour, sometimes more. We'd love to have you.
Meeting ID: 874 2568 6609
PASSWORD TO ZOOM: nickfoles
Need more info?: ajd@thesmallbow.com
This is The Small Bow newsletter. It is mainly written and edited by A.J. Daulerio. And Edith Zimmerman always illustrates it. We send it out every Tuesday and Friday.
You can also get a Sunday issue for $8 a month or $60 annually. The Sunday issue is a recovery bonanza full of gratitude lists, a study guide to my daily recovery routines, a poem I like, the TSB Spotify playlist, and more exclusive essays. You also get commenting privileges!
Other ways you can help:
BUY A T-SHIRT!
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or you can
or you can give a
that goes toward the production of the podcast.
Everything helps.
A POEM ON THE WAY OUT:
The Black Hole
by Zachary Schomburg
*********
When I show someone the black hole it is difficult for me not to push them into it. I’m not sure what that means but it frightens me. Sometimes when I go to the black hole by myself, I’m afraid I might jump into it despite my own resistance. I’m afraid of myself. It’s as if I’ve been given someone else’s heart and someone else has mine, as if our hearts had been switched while we slept. One day, when all the continents have been buried in ocean, we’ll slowly float past each other in our little boats, hearing our own hearts in each other’s chest, and watch each other like stars we don’t know are dead.
— “Fou Magazine”
ALL ILLUSTRATIONS BY EDITH ZIMMERMAN
THANK YOU AJ!
Edith is undefeated