Feels Like Home

Wednesday Poetry Club featuring Alex Lewis

Tanner Olson

and

Alex Lewis

Aug 27, 2025

Hello!

My name is Tanner. I am an author, spoken word poet, and speaker. Every week I (try to) share a few hopeful poems, prayers, and reflections. If you enjoy the words I share, I’d love to have you support this ministry at the monthly, annual, or founding member level.

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Today’s post is part of my weekly series, Wednesday Poetry Club.

If you want to know more about Wednesday Poetry Club, scroll to the bottom for all the details, but all you really need to know is that Wednesday Poetry Club is for poets, readers, and anyone who loves language. It lives entirely on Substack. Every Wednesday, poems are shared, inspiration is sparked, and a sense of community grows.

This week’s edition of Wednesday Poetry Club brings you two poems—one from a friend, and one from me.

I first connected with

Alex Lewis

back in 2016, when he interviewed me for a project he was working on. That initial conversation turned into a friendship carried across the internet—an exchange of words, encouragement, and the kind of quiet friendship that writers often share long before they meet in person. Though Alex and I haven’t yet had the chance to hang out face-to-face, that will change soon—I’ll be in his part of the country this February, sharing poetry in Columbus, Ohio.

Funny enough, when I sat down to write a new poem titled Feels Like Home, I realized that Alex’s Substack carries that very name. And in a way, it couldn’t be more fitting. His writing has always felt like home to me: comforting and honest, hopeful and inviting. The kind of words that settle you, remind you that you belong, and make you feel a little less alone.

This is one of the quiet gifts of writing. Through words on a page—or glowing back at us from a screen—we can come to know someone, or at least feel known by them. It’s not a replacement for sitting across the table, but it is a gift: the reminder that even in solitude, we are not truly alone.

So, today, I’m grateful to share with you two poems—Alex’s reflection on vulnerability in the therapy room, and my own meditation on the beauty of ordinary days. May they both feel like home to you, in their own way.

And make sure to check out Alex’s work!

Much love,
Tanner

I Worry that My Therapist Hates Hearing Me Talk

Alex Lewis

It’s not her, it’s me
My tongue retreats deeper inside
Afraid that I’ve said too much
That I speak too much
That I’m not asking enough questions
Yet she asks me to clarify
She asks why I think that is
I breathe before I answer
A world existing in that breath
I must be brave again
And welcome honesty back in the room
And so I do, and so I speak
And she listens as she always does
And I feel freer as I always do
Once again reminded
That I’m allowed to take up space
In rooms with living bodies
And by my sharing
We might become one

Feels Like Home

I want the ordinary days,
the ones that slip beneath the headlines.
Quiet and unrecorded,
Yet beautiful in their simplicity.

The slow, sacred days
that arrive unannounced
and leave the same way.

I want mornings
where light spills like grace through the blinds,
where coffee hums its quiet ritual
in an old favorite mug that you’ve held
through season after season.
Where silence isn’t empty—
it’s full of breath and mercy.

I want the kind of days
where nothing remarkable happens,
except everything.
Laundry tumbling warm into a basket,
a familiar song playing low,
and our dog,
curled beside me, snoring and sighing,
as if to say, this is enough.

Give me grocery store runs,
where someone holds the door without fanfare,
and I nod in thanks,
because kindness,
even small,
is never wasted.

Let me hear the dishes in the sink,
the way conversations drifting
from calendars to dreams,
from Did you hear? To I love you.

I want days
when no one rushes the moment.
when we remember rest is not something to earn.
When sitting beside someone
in wordless company
feels like home.

I want these unnoticed days—
Soft and sure—
because they carry
the real gift of life.

The invisible thread
that stitches us whole.
The quiet mercy
that makes us human.
The subtle, sacred pulse
of simply being here,
Together,
As if this
is the only life we have.

Long live the Wednesday Poetry Club!

Much love,

Tanner

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What is Wednesday Poetry Club?

Wednesday Poetry Club is for poets, readers, and anyone who loves language. It lives entirely on Substack. Every Wednesday, poems are shared, inspiration is sparked, and a sense of community grows.

A few things to clarify about Wednesday Poetry Club:
Some have asked, what time on Wednesday does Poetry Club meet?
There is no time. You just share a poem on Wednesday.
There is no meeting. You just share a poem on Wednesday.

So, it’s really simple?
Yes, we don’t have to complicate everything. Just share a poem and tell people you’re part of a poetry club that shares poetry on Wednesdays.

The whole point of the Wednesday Poetry Club is to write and share poetry. On Wednesday’s we want to flood Substack with poems! So, if you care about poetry and want to be part of something creative and meaningful, you are part of the club.

How do people know I am part of the Wednesday Poetry Club?
We have some logos you can add to your posts or images to show you're part of the club. You can also include this line in your post:

“On Wednesdays, a group of writers share their poems as part of the Wednesday Poetry Club.”

You can also make it part of your Subtitle in your post.

Something like, “Wednesday Poetry Club.”

So it’s really simple?
Yes. Maybe too simple.

Does it cost money?
No. Who has money? It’s free to join and participate. We do have merch, but anyone can just be part of the Wednesday Poetry Club.

How do I join?
Write a poem. Share it on Wednesday. Post in here on Substack. Mention that you’re part of the Wednesday Poetry Club. Tag me if you’d like. Add the logo to your post. Tell people about the club. That’s all it takes. You’re in. You might be writing on your own, but you’re not doing it alone.

What if I miss a Wednesday?
That’s totally okay. This is about showing up when you can and letting poetry be a joy, not a burden. But if you write a poem, why not share it on Wednesday?

Why Wednesdays?
Remember in Mean Girls, when they said, “On Wednesdays, we wear pink”? Well, on Wednesdays we share poems. It’s just what we do. You can wear pink if you’d like.

Also, it’s the middle of the week a little poetry pick-me-up might be just what we need.

So — want in?