Welcome!

Thanks so much for joining me in Roots & Branches as I explore the common language of those touched by adoption, and the universal themes of separation, impermanence, loss, identity, quest, and reunion. In Memoir-ish Musings by Mel section, you’ll find remembrances, Japanese image poetry, slice-of-life vignettes, gardening, and nostalgia.

About the Author: Mary Ellen Gambutti is an independent author of personal stories and memoirs. Her essays and Japanese poetry have been published in many literary journals. Several months into her brain hemorrhage recovery in her late fifties, she began to type again using her unaffected left hand, reading about the art of memoir, and taking online writing classes. Four memoirs and many Japanese poems poured forth. Her fifth book is a hybrid memoir — or autofiction — since her stories often pass through a scrim of perhaps to manifest her truth.

She and her husband reside in Tom's River, N.J. with Timmy, an apricot Toy Poodle.

Find Mary Ellen’s work at these links: Stroke Story: My Journey There and Back, its sequel, Coming to Terms: My Journey Continues, Fortitude's Footing: Coming to Terms With Stroke, Permanent Home: A Memory Collection. I Must Have Wandered: An Adopted Air Force Daughter Recalls is her recent creative non-fiction hyrid memoir in essays, epistolary, prose poems, and vignettes. Your purchases and reviews are greatly appreciated.