Welcome to Tears of Things

Hi, I’m Eleanor Burke.
she/hers

I’m a writer, mother, wife, birthworker, community grief tender, and permaculture gardener tending home in western Washington. (you can learn more out my birth work at www.wildbeloved.com). I have a BA in English from the University of South Carolina, and a Masters in Teaching in Secondary English from Western Washington University. I’ve been writing since the age of 7. I am neuro-divergent, diagnosed with ADHD and some autism spectrum symptoms at the age of 40- I’m still making sense of what that means.

I grew up in Columbia, South Carolina, and have been on the west coast since 2006. My ancestors hail from Ireland, Scotland, England, and Germany, and have made home in the deep south since the late 1600s. I have a host of privileges that I walk around with and continue to benefit from. My anti-racist and de-colonial learning and work is ongoing.

I’ve lived semi-rurally for most of my adult life. My teen son calls me a hippie and I guess I am. I like picking flowers, hugging trees, talking to birds, swimming in wild waters, hollering at the moon, eating home grown food, singing with loved ones, sharing labor, attending potlucks and wish nothing more than for the U.S. Military to be de-funded. Having trained in permaculture, worked on a small scale organic farm, practiced some small scale animal husbandry (keeping chickens, milking cows) grown my own food on and off for years, lived off grid, wildcrafted and made herbal medicines— I call myself an animist, in that I don’t ascribe supremacy to humans— we literally would not be alive without our plant and animal kin.

I share land with big leaf Maple, Western Red Cedar, Indian Plum, Alder, Cottonwood, (and more) with occasional views of the North Cascades mountain range. Coyote, Hawk, Bald Eagle, Opossum and more are my regular neighbors. These lands are the traditional and current homes of the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla, Semiahmoo, and Nuxwsa’7aq (Nooksack).

Tears of Things is a translation from Latin, sunt lacrimae rerum, “there are tears for things,” which comes from Virgil’s Aeneid, which I admit, I have yet to read. I first learned the phrase as a student in the Orphan Wisdom School with Stephen Jenkinson. Read more about why Tears of Things here.

Within this newsletter you will find-

Essays, poems, and interviews with folks I think you ought to hear from; the occasional Friday’s Grief Song- feel free to email me your submissions!

Listen to the ongoing Tears of Things Playlist here!

And the last day of the Month will be the Monthly Delights - a round up of all the things I’m loving- recipes, a whole collage board of vintage/secondhand clothing finds, an occasional petition I’d like you sign, what I’m watching/listening/pondering. For paid subscribers only.

Tears of Things is a reader supported publication

Why subscribe? Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and commenting privileges to join in the conversation. Wondering out loud together via writing moves along thought and hearts and thus culture. Your subscription helps me pay for childcare so I can write! Childcare is everything! We need more tax funded childcare, community spaces for families, artist residencies with childcare, AND time for parents to be alone and nurture their souls and creative lives.

Welcome and thanks for reading-

Eleanor

updated 1/29/25