#Essential Poems

[katerinaaqu]

Epic the Musical:

Athena: Please dad help Odysseus! I realized he is my good friend and needs help!

Zeus: Who? That shameful man I made him choose to kill himself or his men? Why would I do that? It was so fun!You just seek attention! I'll tell you what though; if you convince others then I shall release him! Let's play

Athena: *does that*

Zeus: How DARE you!

Zeus: *strikes her*

The Odyssey:

Athena: Please father how could you forget on Odysseus who was always pious to the gods?

Zeus: Me? Forget about him? How can I? He is like one of the best when it comes to sacrifices and respecting the gods.

Athena: Then why won't you help him?

Zeus: I have nothing against the man. But my hands are tied! He committed hubris and nemesis had to find him and my brother is pissed off at him. I can't do much.

Athena: I cannot face him but now he is away please help Odysseus at least escape Ogygia! Send Hermes to bring the message and I shall go to help his son! The prophecy needs to be fulfilled!

Zeus: you speak the truth. Let us try.

[andrumedus]

To survive myself I forged you like a weapon, like an arrow in my bow, like a stone in my sling. But the hour of vengeance strikes, and I love you.

Pablo Neruda, tr. & ed. by Mark Eisner, The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems; from Twenty Love Poems: 1, "Body of woman"

[majestativa]

Yes, my sweetheart. The sea alters its colors. [...] It sometimes drinks the sunset’s blood.

— Nazik Al-Malaika, Listen to the Mourners: The Essential Poems of Nazik Al-Malaika, transl by Abdulwahid Lu'lu'a, (2021)

[toddtakefive]

few will understand demiromantic gay neil but i do

[usefulquotes7]

Take care not to invest all of your strength and energy on keeping up appearances or disguising your insecurities when what's really essential to projecting a secure, confident presence is developing a healthy self-esteem and a kind and courageous heart. Beau Taplin

[darisu-chan]

So after experiencing a terrible loss a few weeks ago, my brain decided to process my grief with some more IR thoughts bc of course it did

So y’know how people keep bitching about the poem “Can I keep up with it? The speed of the world without you in it” and saying it’s not about Rukia, but about Zangetsu? Even though we’ve established time and time again it makes no sense for it to be about just Ichigo’s powers?

Well, I was thinking that it’s not solely that Ichigo stopped seeing Rukia because he lost his powers. Let’s think about what that symbolizes. His powers involve seeing ghosts, spirits, dead people. Essentially, Ichigo lost Rukia to death. Because she’s dead and he’s not. Like he knows death is not the end, but without his powers, he won’t see Rukia again until he dies. And isn’t that just terribly painful? That horrible knowledge. He knows Rukia is okay, that she has a life in death, that she’s not alone. But the point still stands that he won’t see her. He’s stuck living his life until his heart stops beating and for all he knows, he might live a long life. Obviously if Rukia used a gigai, they could see each other and this is all a bit of a plot hole (what else is new in Bleach), but just the heart wrenching thought that he won’t see her again until he dies gives the poem a new meaning. Isn’t that what we all ask ourselves when our loved ones die? Beyond a breakup, or however else we can interpret it, this reads as “death parted them”. This is grief. Ichigo is mourning her.

And this isn’t the first time death has taken someone I love, but idk, I just really felt this poem in a whole another level. Can I keep going without this person I love? It’s terrifying when you just don’t see them anymore. This ache in your heart. And if you’re religious, you know you’ll see them again, or at least you hope for it, but seeing them again involves you dying and who knows when that’ll be. And I knew Ichigo was depressed, but putting this grief related to death into more perspective… he was destroyed, and that’s how that poem now feels for me. This extreme longing for someone who’s not alive. This great divide between them. They’ve always been about life and death in some ways, but now this very key relationship aspect seems even clearer to me.

It’s funny that in my darkest times, I find myself understanding another layer of this ship, one of the most painful ones, because the same can be said when Rukia was taken to the SS. Ichigo lost Rukia to death then too. It gives more perspective to the knowledge Ichigo’s second worst experience was Rukia going to the SS. It’s not quite death as he knew it, but it might as well have been without being able to see her, and then knowing she was going to be executed, dying yet again.

[urlocalwormtoday]

In every orchard

There is a tree

Bares rotten fruit

Drops dying leaves

And legend says

If one dies young

Bury them close

And they'll come back wrong

[hersurvival]

She has me pinned,

Stting in the arch of my back,

Both hands on the back of my head.

"She's crushing me," I cried.

Every second had gravity

Dragging her down

More

And

More.

I heard a snap and so did she.

She jumps, crunches my bones.

But my mother is on the couch, busy.

Telling me, "No, it can't always be her fault."

But it's always mine and I'm crying,

"Why will you not help me?"

[creatediana]

"A Midsummer Night's Swing" - a poem written 7/17/2024

[andrumedus]

you look like the world in your attitude of surrender.

Pablo Neruda, tr. & ed. by Mark Eisner, The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems; from Twenty Love Poems: 1, "Body of woman"

[majestativa]

I dream, I dream, but do not wake Except to dream another dream.

— Nazik Al-Malaika, Listen to the Mourners: The Essential Poems of Nazik Al-Malaika, transl by Abdulwahid Lu'lu'a, (2021)

[wonder-worker]

Margaret of Anjou’s visit to Coventry [in 1456], which was part of her dower and that of her son, Edward of Lancaster, was much more elaborate. It essentially reasserted Lancastrian power. The presence of Henry and the infant Edward was recognised in the pageantry. The ceremonial route between the Bablake gate and the commercial centre was short, skirting the area controlled by the cathedral priory, but it made up for its brevity with no fewer than fourteen pageants. Since Coventry had an established cycle of mystery plays, there were presumably enough local resources and experience to mount an impressive display; but one John Wetherby was summoned from Leicester to compose verses and stage the scenes. As at Margaret’s coronation the iconography was elaborate, though it built upon earlier developments.

Starting at Bablake gate, next to the Trinity Guild church of St. Michael, Bablake, the party was welcomed with a Tree of Jesse, set up on the gate itself, with the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah explaining the symbolism. Outside St. Michael’s church the party was greeted by Edward the Confessor and St. John the Evangelist; and proceeding to Smithford Street, they found on the conduit the four Cardinal Virtues—Righteousness (Justice?), Prudence, Temperance, and Fortitude. In Cross Cheaping wine flowed freely, as in London, and angels stood on the cross, censing Margaret as she passed. Beyond the cross was pitched a series of pageants, each displaying one of the Nine Worthies, who offered to serve Margaret. Finally, the queen was shown a pageant of her patron saint, Margaret, slaying the dragon [which 'turned out to be strictly an intercessor on the queen's behalf', as Helen Maurer points out].

The meanings here are complex and have been variously interpreted. An initial reading of the programme found a message of messianic kingship: the Jesse tree equating royal genealogy with that of Christ had been used at the welcome for Henry VI on his return from Paris in 1432. A more recent, feminist view is that the symbolism is essentially Marian, and to be associated with Margaret both as queen and mother of the heir rather than Henry himself. The theme is shared sovereignty, with Margaret equal to her husband and son. Ideal kingship was symbolised by the presence of Edward the Confessor, but Margaret was the person to whom the speeches were specifically addressed and she, not Henry, was seen as the saviour of the house of Lancaster. This reading tips the balance too far the other way: the tableau of Edward the Confessor and St. John was a direct reference to the legend of the Ring and the Pilgrim, one of Henry III’s favourite stories, which was illustrated in Westminster Abbey, several of his houses, and in manuscript. It symbolised royal largesse, and its message at Coventry would certainly have encompassed the reigning king. Again, the presence of allegorical figures, first used for Henry, seems to acknowledge his presence. Yet, while the message of the Coventry pageants was directed at contemporary events it emphasised Margaret’s motherhood and duties as queen; and it was expressed as a traditional spiritual journey from the Old Testament, via the incarnation represented by the cross, to the final triumph over evil, with the help of the Virgin, allegory, and the Worthies. The only true thematic innovation was the commentary by the prophets.

[...] The messages of the pageants firmly reminded the royal women of their place as mothers and mediators, honoured but subordinate. Yet, if passive, these young women were not without significance. It is clear from the pageantry of 1392 and 1426 in London and 1456 in Coventry that when a crisis needed to be resolved, the queen (or regent’s wife) was accorded extra recognition. Her duty as mediator—or the good aspect of a misdirected man—suddenly became more than a pious wish. At Coventry, Margaret of Anjou was even presented as the rock upon which the monarchy rested. [However,] a crisis had to be sensed in order to provoke such emphasis [...]."

-Nicola Coldstream, "Roles of Women in Late Medieval Civic Pageantry," "Reassessing the Roles of Women as 'Makers' of Medieval Art and Culture"

[lohstandfound]

⭐️

oh oh oh okay. there's so many i want to talk about

okay. first off, i want to talk about rolling. lucas has always been such an interesting character to me in bare. like. 'hey, i got the goods. i don't wanna take care of you all night so we're going to go over drug safety 101 again, okay?', claims he's not going to babysit his friends but goes to take care of ivy, he's the school drug dealer but the sin he confesses to is extra nyquil.

he goes up to jason, holding the very thing jason will use to overdose. he says 'you know we're still cool, right?'. he's not sure the best way to say it but he tries to tell his best/close friend that it's okay, you've still got me

how do you think he felt to find out he supplied jason with the thing he used to kill himself. and it's not like jason didn't know how much would be lethal.

anyway, i think about lucas a lot

i decided michael would be the better person to take that sort of role in the bapo au. it makes sense, honestly. but it just makes the story a little more tragic.

michael is gay, jenna is the only one who knows. michael is probably just as terrified as rich and jake are about coming out in the environment they have spent most of their life in.

unsure whether saint cecelia's was supposed to be just a high school or not. my catholic school went from year 7 - 13. which is probably middle school to high school. there's another school in my town that is year 1 - 13 (so i guess elementary to high school). either way it's highly likely that they went to a catholic primary school. a catholic education system is all they're familiar with

ample time for them to have it drilled into them gay = bad.

if michael just paid a little bit more attention to jake and rich, maybe he would have noticed they were a lot closer than just best bros. maybe he would have noticed that when jake and rich had their falling out, rich was a lot more upset for it being a best friend fight. if michael paid a little more attention, maybe he would have noticed. if michael paid a little more attention, he could have told them that they weren't the only ones.

the 'you know we're still cool, right?' is a lot more loaded when it comes from michael knowing that his close friend is just like him. and michael knows what it's like to feel so alone with such a heavy secret. there were so many things that michael to say to offer some sort of support, he could have told them. but 'you know we're still cool, right?' was the best he could come up with. and that wasn't enough.

anyway. onto the fic itself. the bapo fic doesnt really focus on anyone else during the rave. makes sense since it is mostly focused on rich and jake. but i wanted to explore a little more on michael and his relationship with his faith and his sexuality, which is something he struggles with. his parents didn't take it well, he cannot tell his friends, jenna is the only one who knows, and sneaking out of the school grounds is the only time he can shed that persona of who he has to be to make it through school.

he's another opposite to jake in that sense. because even though they're far away from the prying eyes of their classmates and teachers, and many of their friends are too high to even pay any attention, Jake still takes Rich outside to kiss him. Whereas Michael finds a guy to spend the night with until he notices brooke's panic when chloe suddenly isn't doing too well.

this is a statement that goes for the bare characters too, but all of them are under so much pressure to live up to the expectations set for them by the catholic church. even when they think they've got an escape away from the church figures always watching them, they're not alone. which is something michael thinks about

he's struggling a lot with the relationship of his faith and sexuality, which i imagine would lead to some doubts in his faith at some point.

it's complicated

(and i get it)

(also i need to note that the choice of 'sebastian' being michael's confirmation name was in reference to st sebastian being referred to as the patron saint of the gays putting it simply. and that is definitely why michael chose sebastian. i have no reasoning for jenna choosing veronica. veronica was the first saint i thought of)

just for fun i want to talk about im so obsessed with your ex. the entire concept came to me because every time i listen to that song, i can't help but read it a little bit sapphic. anyway, a lot of olivia rodrigo songs give off chloe vibes. and i had the concept of it working with madeline as well while i was walking to work. made a post, someone agreed to it, couldn't stop thinking about it, decided to write it. (and somehow the song made it to the top of my on repeat playlist on spotify)

i love writing sapphics and confusing feelings of attraction with feelings of jealousy. it works so well for madeline, chloe, and brooke. but this fic is solely from madeline's pov. and i haven't really written for madeline before, if ever.

it was a mixture of the idea that everything madeline does is for the bit and pissing chloe off, and madeline misplacing her feelings of jealousy because she's totally jealous that chloe gets to date jake, when really chloe is the one she wants. and chloe is the one she thinks about the entire time she's with jake. jake's just a trophy, or a stepping stone to what she really wants. because yeah, jake is fine. he's decent. madeline's not sure she gets the hype but whatever

madeline is one of the only people who can say they have dated or at least hooked up with the king and queen of the school

[okadaizoirl]

y'know, the most healing part of my journey through my own masculinity and what it means to me has been getting to sit and talk with the 14-year-old dyke that started it all. next i hope to talk with the 10-year-old tomboy who just asked her grandmother if the lady on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire said 'wife'. i already know the 18-year-old genderfluid person that just wants to know why they feel so drawn to change, they're lovely. these girls in line behind them are lovely, too. i just need to learn to love them and recognize them all as just the same as the man i am today.

[nest-being]

i love art!!! i love comics!!! i love poetry!!! i love prose!! i love music!!! i love animation!!!! i love fashion!!!! i love creative expression!!! i love seeing the beauty and brutality and complexity of the world explored in so many different ways!!! i love knowing there is a human being behind every creative work- driven to create and tell stories as a form of communication and connection!!! art is life!!! art is humanity!!! art is existence!!!!!

[ardenrosegarden]