Read or Listen to the writings of Miriam Shanks

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Write to the Heart of the Matter

• Recent Work •

Polly Learns To Be A Friend

Miriam's new Children's Story explores themes of jealousy, acceptance, friendship, and adventure through the eyes of a dog named Polly. | Read

New Lyrics

Read the newest Lyrics | Click Here

New Verse

Read the newest Verses | Click Here

Ode to My Left Breast

Written for a dear friend, this work explores the strength of the spirit inside a woman facing the loss of one of her breasts to cancer.

Compromised Ethics and a Lesson Learned

Sometimes, your integrity is all you have.

I See You

This piece explore sympathy for a grief-stricken friend. | Read & Listen

Lessons from a Strange Grey Film

Cleaning the closet presents a mystery to be solved and a lesson to be learned. | Read

Friends Don't Let Friends Shop Drunk

Tipsy shopping can get you in trouble! | Read

Drug testing for cannabis — at what cost?

This essay explores my struggle with mental illness and managing a career while working for companies intolerant of marijuana use. | Read

Dancing On A Marble

The earth is small and we are too… | Read

News & Updates

February 2024

The ‘Rhymes & Verse’ section of the site has now become just ‘Verse’ and is split into ‘Verse’ and ‘Lyrics’ sections where you’ll find a trove of new work—twenty six new pieces to be exact!
A few pieces like “The Desert’s Call” have been reworked and updated for your reading pleasure! Share your toughts and comments below each post and thank you for reading!

December 2022

Audio Versions of select stories and poems read by Miriam are now available across the site to listen and download.
Take some time to listen to ‘I See You’, ‘Confessions of a Garage Sale Junkie’, ‘Turning Into’, ‘Beauty’, and ‘Reflections on the Oak Beyond My Garden Gate’ and keep an ear out for more audio content.

April 2022

I am pleased to share the news that my personal essay, ‘Drug Testing for Cannabis – At What Cost’ has been published by the Las Cruces Sun and Yahoo! News, April 24, 2022. I originally wrote the essay three years ago but was too timid to share because the experiences still seemed raw. With much encouragement from friends and family, I offered it for publication in the Sun and it was accepted. A couple of days later I noticed the story was also on Yahoo! News – yay! This essay explores my struggle with mental illness and managing a career while working for companies intolerant of marijuana use. Read Article & Comment

January 2022

The idea for Write to the Heart the of the Matter has been growing in my spirit for the last year or so, and the drive to become a published, creative author has in me since childhood. So, it is with great excitement and a lot of nerves that I introduce you, my prospective readers, to this website, because this place is for sharing a bit of my heart with you. I humbly ask for your thoughts and discussion in the comment sections if a piece resonates with you. Hopefully they will inspire you to think, feel or laugh (Spoiler: they might even make you cry). Please be polite as I will remove any comments that are downright rude.
Happy New Year to Write to the Heart of the Matter!

August 2022

Merry Christmas from Write to the Heart of the Matter!
Today I am pleased to release a Christmas song called “Runaway to Ruidoso”. My gratitude today goes to those who took and ran with the idea and transformed it into a song that transcends what I could have anticipated.
Listen Here: “Runaway to Ruidoso”