Writing

I write to make sense of the things that are difficult to name.

Through poetry and short stories, I explore the messy, tender and often complicated parts of being human — the things we carry, the ways we change, and the small threads of hope we find along the way.

Sometimes the words begin with something I have lived. Sometimes they begin with a character, an image, or a single line that refuses to leave me alone. Wherever they come from, writing has become a way of listening more closely — to the world around me, to other people, and perhaps most of all, to myself.

The Ache of Becoming — book cover, poetry and photography by Laura Garretty

Releasing 1 September 2026

The Ache of Becoming

A poetry and photography collection about survival, change, grief, hope and the uncomfortable space between who we were and who we are becoming.

The Ache of Becoming is my debut collection, bringing together poetry and original photography created across different seasons of my life.

These pieces were not written from the other side of everything. Many of them were written from somewhere in the middle — while trying to understand what was happening, hold onto hope, or simply find language for something that felt impossible to explain.

Together, the poems and photographs explore what it means to hurt, heal, unravel, rebuild and keep becoming.

Releasing 1 September 2026.

See photographs from the book

Selected Poetry

Not every poem finds its way into a book.

This is a growing collection of pieces written outside The Ache of Becoming — poems about the strange, difficult, beautiful and sometimes ridiculous business of being human.

Some arrive fully formed. Others spend a very long time arguing with me first.

Short Stories