Dear caféteers, friends, subscribers and now, indeed, customers!
After months of brewing, and the “soft” opening a few days ago, The Fertile Void Café is officially opening its doors to the world wide world tomorrow, Monday December 1st, 2025.
I’ve been working hard to make it ready - simpler, cleaner “menu” with curated writing—poetry, audio and video from the café on Substack—and, of course, the online shop for the hand-crafted poetry booklets.
We have plans for the café and we’re working to bring more for you to enjoy every week.
The best of the essays, poems, and conversations we’ve shared over the past two years now have a home of their own—a beautiful space (we think) where creativity, wisdom, and our café community gather.
Inside the café, you’ll find:
→ A growing collection of essays and poetry together with spoken word and videos
→ Handcrafted poetry booklets (some of you already have them!)
→ A community of like-hearted souls
As a subscriber to the fv café, you can sneak an eve-of-launch look around - if you have a couple of minutes to spare, we’d love to serve you. We’re still filling out the spaces as fast as we can—watch your step around the stepladders and power tools—but it’s good enough to to go live tomorrow.
The café is free to visit anytime. Pull up a chair, grab a cup (or a glass) of your favourite beverage, and explore.
And if you like what you find, I hope you’ll invite others to join us.
With gratitude,
Cheers,
Matthew (and Arnaly, Sara, and Yvonne)
And as a small “thank you for reading” token of appreciation, here’s a new poem from this season’s TINY FOLDED POEMS - Autumn 2025, scheduled for publication early in the New Year.
Cracked
by Matthew C Sutcliffe
The way your smile catches my eye
and catching it easily I smile too
our faces working together
to make us feel better
nothing to say
yet everything known
Life?
I’ve cracked it today
You have cracked it Matthew! With your writing, humour, kindness and honesty, your happiness with life right now simply oozes from the screen. I can't afford to upgrade right now but I so appreciate being here to nab the odd free yummy cookie as I pass by on my new found bicycle of life called creativity!!
You’re an inspiration Matthew, congratulations with opening your beautiful Café 🧡