Writing

I write essays, stories, and poems about everything under, above, and around the sun. My first book, Without Your Father, will be published by Unsolicited Press in May 2026. It is a collection of 112 contemplative vignettes that narrate the year following my father’s sudden death. You can read more about the book and my journey to publication here.

I have a blog on this site where I used to post longform essays (and maybe will again someday). These days, I primarily post micro essays on Substack and Instagram (both @jessicalynnehenkle). Sometimes, my work finds its way into other publications. You can follow those pieces into the wild by clicking the links below.

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Published Works

“How to Want,” essay in Issue 13 of Heart of Flesh Literary Journal, May 2025

“A Little Incarnation,” essay on the Dappled Things blog, March 2025

“An Inconvenient Demand,” essay on the Dappled Things blog, December 2024

“Without Your Father, #95,” vignette (from my grief memoir, Without Your Father) in The Clayjar Review, January 2024

“The Trouble with Jesus,” poem in Issue 10 of Heart of Flesh Literary Journal, November 2023

“Seeds,” essay in Issue 10 of Heart of Flesh Literary Journal, November 2023

“Without Your Father, #57,” vignette (from my grief memoir, Without Your Father) in The Sunlight Press, August 2023

“The Baby Vortex,” essay in Volume 9, Issue 2 of 805 Art + Lit, May 2023

“The Art of Losing,” essay on the Dappled Things blog, May 2023

“Grace,” vignette (from my grief memoir, Without Your Father) on the Tiferet Journal blog, February 2018

“Myths,” vignette (from my grief memoir, Without Your Father) in Tweet Lit, October 2017

“I can describe this,” essay in Tiny Tim Literary Review‘s Winter Issue I, February 2017

“To the Israeli Who Danced with Me on My Twenty-First Birthday,” short story in Up, Do: Flash Fiction by Women Writers, March 2014

“Stitched,” short story in 1:1000, April 2013

“Fire Season,” feature story in the Spring 2012 issue of Northwind, nominated for a 2012 Pushcart Prize

“to the howl,” poem Scissors & Spackle, April 2012