#— poetry

[dr-awkkward]

I can't stop thinking about the dichotomy of the Long Quiet and the Shifting Mound: specifically, the metaphor of a rock in a river.

He is a stone. A constant, unyielding force. Capable of being changed, of course- sharpened into a weapon, stacked into the walls of a prison- but entirely inert.

She is a river. Ebbing and flowing, never retaining a constant shape. The waters can be cleared, deepened, displaced momentarily, but you will not change its course by plunging a hand or a blade into it. You will not still it.

The rock is what moves the stream.

The waters meet this unyielding surface and flow around it. Their path is altered ever so slightly, but it is altered. A well-placed rock can change the trajectory of a river's flow, can be shifted to allow the waters to flow in more directions or with more power, can block it off entirely until it stills to a stagnant pool.

And all the while, changes begin to happen. Things that couldn't, had the rock not been placed. The rock's edges are smoothed and its layers peeled back to reveal glimpses of its core, while imperceptibly tiny pieces of it join the river's flow. They understand each other just a little bit better, now.

Be it a bridge, or a dam, or a reservoir, or simply a stone sitting in a stream... the fact remains that the rock met the river. Change met stagnancy, and something new was created.

[mournfulroses]

Mahmoud Darwish, from a poem titled "How Do I Write Above The Clouds," featured in If I Were Another: Poems

[thoughtkick]

Sometimes quiet people really do have a lot to say. They’re just being careful about who they open up to.

Susan Gale

[vaspider]

You can find this and other relevant writing for $1/mo (or more) here.

[madeleinescornerofthisandthat]

love this message <3

A short comic I made about my experiences as a seasonal worker, and the way places change you.

Prints & PDF

[mournfulroses]

Margaret Atwood, from Paper Boat: Selected Poems; "Hesitations Outside the Door,"

[thoughtkick]

I know I’m not easy to love. I’m a chronic over-thinker. I overreact more than I should…And every once in a while, I might be a little insecure. But if I am in love with you, I can promise you wholeheartedly that you will be loved with so much passion and intensity that you’ll forget what life felt like before I came along. You will always be cared for and you will always have someone in your corner. Maybe I’m not the best at being loved - But I like to think I’m pretty good at loving.

Chelsea Carroll

[mournfulroses]

Rainer Maria Rilke, transl. by Edward Snow, from The Book of Images; "Charles the 12th of Sweden Rides in the Ukraine,"

[logicalnonsense-smiley]

I love any werewolf metaphor

this poem is about being nonbinary.

[jordanbolton]

To The Substitute Art Teacher - Jordan Bolton

Pre-order my new book ‘Blue Sky Through the Window of a Moving Car’ here - https://smarturl.it/BlueSky

[octoberloved]

[wedarkacademia]

[arylleth]

to love someone is firstly to confess: i'm prepared to be devastated by you. by A History of My Brief Body by Billy-Ray Belcourt

[soul-from-another-era]

Unconditional love isn't a free pass to hurt me.

[becomingvecna]

— David Cronenberg, Consumed