it's rotten work, but without the rot nothing can grow

it's rotten work but decay is an essential part of the cycle of death and rebirth

Anne Carson, Plainwater: Essays and Poetry

[text: Love makes you an anthropologist of your own life.]

Tony Hoagland, from Application for Release from the Dream; “The Complex Sentence”

Gregory Orr, from Concerning The Book That Is The Body Of The Beloved

Hanif Abdurraqib, in “Why this poet sees grief as its own kind of spiritual practice”

The Cow, Ariana Reines

i will ALWAYS clap my hands excitedly and lean forward in my seat when someone tells a character to "keep your dog on a leash" only for it to turn out they're referring to another person

the way it reframes the entire relationship dynamic between the two people being addressed. the way wilful loyalty becomes hopeless devotion. the way aggression and violence goes from honorable and rational to bestial and instinctual. the ways faith and trust intersect with codependency and reliance. the questions about power and who wields it in the relationship it opens up. the way it functions as both an insult and an expression of intimidation, of fearful submission.

— Maya Angelou, “Starvation” from The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou

you cannot touch. you cannot be touched. you hear their laughter through the speakers but your fingers cannot glide across the supple swell of a voice. your skin is cold, begging to be reminded that you are not alone. you are alone.

roughs

going home

anne boyer “the harm will come: it never doesn’t” / julia armfield “to watch a horror movie is to know that something bad is going to happen. to have a body is really the same thing” / hilary mantel “we don’t have to invite pain in, it’s waiting for us: sooner rather than later” / marie howe “you know how we’ve been waiting for the big pain to come? I think it’s here. I think this is it. I think it’s been here all along” / gregory orr “I want to go back to the beginning. we all do. I think: hurt won’t be there. but I’m wrong” / toni morrison “the hurt was always there” / torrey peters “pain that had to be endured, withstood, pain that was the same as being alive, and so without end”

#that one line from sharp objects … #do you ever feel like bad things are going to happen and you can’t stop them? you can’t do anything you just have to wait?

#THE lake mungo quote #I feel like something bad is going to happen to me. I feel like something bad has happened. it hasn’t reached me yet but it’s on its way

salma deera

*explaining kitchen appliances to my pet medieval knights* The microwave, or Micheal the Wavious, and metal fork, or Sir Silver Prong, are sworn enemies and can never cross paths lest their meeting spell destruction for all.

“forsooth! the scribe lies to us! upon this day i swear these star-crossed lovers shall meet again”

my liege you cannot trust this buffoon. he doesn’t even begin every other sentence with “my liege.” he‘ll never whisper in your ear the way i do it, my liege. sire. your fuckableness

babygirl i am constantly riddled with extreme feelings of inadequacy

Emperor moths have large eyespots on their hind wings that they flash when disturbed. This often startles and thwarts potential predators.

Image credit: Tim Flach

god!!

everyone he loves dies, he endures the worst. he wants to die. he lives beyond his years, god won’t let him die. he lives. he can’t talk about what happened, he is the only one who ever returned. all the data they collected was buried and so if he wants the memory of his loved ones and all their work to be acknowledged (remembered) he has to talk. he has to tell the story. he has to live and remember. and that’s his curse or his calling.

Hey so your girlfriend got put into a fandom and um, they kinda. Yeah they made her the Mean Lesbian Friend. Yeah it's entirely because she's the only girl who's not overtly caring or kind. Sorry. Also they-- yeah she's characterized entirely as a wingman for the popular gay ship. Sorry again

"This is so me lol" "I do this" this is a complaint post. This is a post complaining about when this happens. This post is about the constant 1-dimensional characterization that happens to women characters in fandom when they are not cute or nice. The last part especially is complaining about how once these women are made Mean Lesbians they are characterized entirely though their "endearingly rude" support of a relationship between two men.

not romantic not platonic but a secret third thing (so devoted the lines blur)