#Online Poetry Platforms

[nicholasandriani]

Poetry Does Not Exist- Poetry’s Renaissance in the Digital Age, and What You Must Know

Title: The Sine Qua Non of the Art and Science of Poetry Writing Introduction: Poetry, often described as the language of the soul, is a unique form of expression that marries the artistry of words with the precision of science. To craft a poem that resonates deeply with readers requires a delicate balance between creativity and structure, imagination and technique. In the world of poetry…

[nhannsworld]

Muse

By Nhantinii Ram

Stuttered breaths and stumbling words.

A gaze playing shallow when it's anything but.

Your voice clanging against the metal in my ears; nerves alight with a chill when you’re standing a sea distance away.

A palm splayed over my shoulder atop coated, tweed, and twill woven clothes; my skin seared with an iron brand.

Your words and their taste sink into the cracked skin of my white lips; streaking them scarlet.

A thread poking out of your burgundy sweater; bestow upon me the right to tangle and tie my limbs with it forever so I stay engulfed in lingering lavender.

You turn to me; a pause in the way you look, a wait in the way you speak, a reach in the tips of your fingers, your sentences unsaid so starkly, your clothes feign crumpled in the places I wish I could hold.

Tell me the numerous wants of our one desire in a breath and a word.

Ask me what I want to ask you.

Ask me what we’ve both been asking of each other in everything but a breath and word; in a breath and a word.

Let form be derived from our breaths and our words so that they don’t remain as mere breaths and words.

I want you, I do. You want me, do you?

In a stumbled breath and a stuttered word; ask me, ask me, ask me.

[fiercynn]

poetry outlets that support a free palestine

after finding out that the poetry foundation/POETRY magazine pulled a piece that discussed anti-zionism because they "don't want to pick a side" during the current genocide, i decided to put together a list of online outlets who are explicitly in solidarity with palestine where you can read (english-language) poetry, including, except where otherwise stated, by palestinian poets!

my criteria for this is not simply that they have published palestinian poets or pro-palestine statements in the past; i only chose outlets that, since october 7, 2023, have done one of the following:

published a solidarity statement against israeli occupation & genocide

signed onto the open letter for writers against the war on gaza and/or the open letter boycotting the poetry foundation

published content that is explicitly pro-palestine or anti-zionist, including poetry that explicitly deals with israeli occupation & genocide

shared posts that are pro-palestine on their social media accounts

fyi this is undoubtedly a very small sample. also some of these sites primarily feature nonfiction or short stories, but they do all publish poetry.

outlets that focus entirely on palestinian or SWANA (southwest asia and north africa) literature

we are not numbers, a palestinian youth-led project to write about palestinian lives

arab lit, a magazine for arabic literature in translation that is run by a crowd-funded collective

sumuo, an arab magazine, platform, and community (they appear to have a forthcoming palestine special print issue edited by leena aboutaleb and zaina alsous)

mizna, a platform for contemporary SWANA (southwest asian & north africa) lit, film, and art

the markaz review, a literary arts publication and cultural institution that curates content and programs on the greater middle east and communities in diaspora

online magazines who have published special issues of all palestinian writers (and all of them publish palestinian poets in their regular issues too)

fiyah literary magazine in december 2021, edited by nadia shammas and summer farah (if you have $6 usd to spare, proceeds from the e-book go to medical aid for palestinians)

strange horizons in march 2021, edited by rasha abdulhadi

the baffler in june 2021, curated by poet/translators fady joudah & lena khalaf tuffaha

the markaz review has two palestine-specific issues, on gaza and on palestinians in israel, currently free to download

literary hub featured palestinian poets in 2018 for the anniversary of the 1948 nakba

adi magazine, who have shifted their current (october 2023) issue to be all palestinian writers

outlets that generally seem to be pro-palestine/publish pro-palestine pieces and palestinian poetry

protean magazine (here's their solidarity statement)

poetry online (offering no-fee submissions to palestinian writers)

sundog lit (offering no-fee submissions to palestinian writers through december 1, 2023)

guernica magazine (here's a twitter thread of palestinian poetry they've published) guernica ended up publishing a zionist piece so fuck them too

split this rock (here's their solidarity statement)

the margins by the asian-american writers' workshop

the offing magazine

rusted radishes

voicemail poems

jewish currents

the drift magazine

asymptote

the poetry project

ctrl + v journal

the funambulist magazine

n+1 magazine (signed onto the open letter and they have many pro-palestine articles, but i'm not sure if they have published palestinian poets specifically)

hammer & hope (signed onto the letter but they are a new magazine only on their second issue and don't appear to have published any palestinian poets yet)

if you know others, please add them on!

[official-wales]

Any advice for first language English speakers trying to learn Welsh?

sacrifice yourself to y ddraig goch and ascend into her kingdom of fire

Diolch yn fawr iawn! I'm a second language South Walian myself, so my Welsh is gonna be different to a first language North Walian, for example. But, we roll with it.

Start small

I don't know if you're in Wales, or elsewhere, but just introducing little Welsh phrases is a good place to start, like greetings. Don't worry about making mistakes, or being misunderstood. Everyone will know what you mean, and most people will be pleased you're using Welsh!

Hello - Shwmae/Helo

Good bye - Hwyl fawr

How are you? - Sut dych chi? (very formal), Sut wyt ti? (less formal)

Thank you (very much) - Diolch (yn fawr)

Please - O's gwelwch yn dda

Good morning - Bore da

Good afternoon - Prynhawn da

Good night - Nos da

Welcome - Croeso

If you ARE in Wales, look out for people wearing little orange speech mark badges in public places, like shops. These mean they are fluent, or learning Welsh, and will be happy to talk with you in the language.

2. Understanding pronunciation

Sometimes English speakers get tripped up by Welsh spelling, especially when mutations are involved. You've probably heard the old "it's just a keyboard smash language!", when honestly Welsh makes more sense than English (every letter is pronounced the same every time, unlike English, where it's a lottery).

Here's some major-ish differences to the English alphabet:

a - "ah" (apple)

ch - like a gutteral cat hiss? Or like you're trying to get phlegm out of the back of your throat.

dd - "th" (these)

e - "eh" (elephant)

f - "v" (velcro)

ff - "f" (fantastic)

i - "ee" (queen)

ll - like you're blowing air out the side of your tongue, while the tip is just behind your teeth. May take some practice, but it's a VERY common sound

r - roll that letter, baby. like an Italian

rh - like a breathy r. Use your teeth

u - "ih" (hit)

w - "ooh" (spoon)

y - "uh" (under) or sometimes "ih" (inside)

(there is no j, k, q or v in the Welsh alphabet. But that doesn't stop some anglicised words like "jam")

3. Mutations

Mutations are ways Welsh words change, depending on what comes before or after them. There are loads of mutations, but you can be understood without using them/forgetting them, so don't worry too much. They're quite easy to learn too.

For example:

Diflas - Boring

Mae Owen yn ddiflas - Owen is boring

The 'd' changes to a 'dd'. Because mutations. Don't ask me why.

Here's a guide to mutations that can explain it better than I can.

4. Find some sick Welsh media

Maybe you're into podcasts, or soap operas, or rock music, or food blogs, or children's books, or Eisteddfod poetry, or-

HERE'S SOME HANDPICKED STUFF FROM YOURS TRULY:

Hansh on Twitter, YouTube and iPlayer - comedy and more platform. Quite random.

Adwaith - Welsh-language, all-female, indie rock band from Carmarthenshire. Won the Welsh Music Prize in 2022.

Duolingo Welsh course - Recently, Duolingo announced they were going to stop updating the course, which led to some BIG OUTCRIES in Welsh news. Worth looking in to.

Learn Welsh - resources, schemes, audiobooks and more to help people learn Welsh in a way that suits them. 16-25 year olds can learn for free. You can book face to face lessons, online self-learning, learn with other learners, search courses near you and loads of other stuff. Good to explore.

Ap Treiglo and Ap Geiriadur - free apps to help with mutations and vocabulary. Ap Geiriadur is designed by Bangor University.

Siarad - Voluntary scheme to help people increase their confidence using Welsh. You're matched with a fluent Welsh speaker, and can go through three levels of proficiency. You arrange to meet up, or learn online - whatever suits you!

S4C - The Welsh language broadcasting service. Has everything: news, Gogglebocs Cymru, drama, documentaries, you name it.

Doctor Cymraeg - really successful tiktok and instagram account. Teaches about bitesized Welsh language facts, vocabulary and funny things. Also always films them when out on a walk, with the expression of a high school teacher who's just watched his pupils try and fail to make the leaning tower of pisa out of gluesticks. Classic.

5. TYMBLR

There are LOADS of people learning Welsh on here for the first time, and interacting with them is one of the best ways to get into the language online. #dysgu cymraeg is a good tag.

Sorry for the long post, but ta da! I am by no means an expert, but with your help anon, we can get everyone speaking Welsh by nightfall. The plan is in motion. Godspeed.

[samwisethewitch]

What Non-Pagans Need to Know About Fiction Featuring Pagan Gods

In light of Marvel's Loki show dropping a second season and a new Percy Jackson series on the horizon, I want to say some things about how fandom spaces can be respectful of real-life pagan religion.

Let's get one thing out of the way: literally no one is saying you can't enjoy fiction that uses pagan gods and heroes as characters. No one is saying, "Stop writing stories about our gods." In fact, many ancient cultures wrote fiction about their gods -- look at Greek theater or the Norse Eddas. The act of writing fiction about the gods is not offensive in itself.

But please remember that this is someone's religion.

The gods are not "just archetypes." Their myths are not "just stories." Their personalities are not a matter of artistic interpretation. For many pagans, the gods are very much real in a literal sense. I don't think Thor is a metaphor or a symbol -- for me, Thor is a real, autonomous spiritual being who exists outside of human perceptions of him, and who I have chosen to build a relationship with. Even if you are a hardcore atheist, I would hope you could at least be respectful of the fact that, to many modern pagans, the gods are both very real and very important.

When authors are not respectful of this fact, they reduce the gods, these very real objects of worship, to fictional characters. And here's the thing about fictional characters: they are fundamentally tools for authors to use to draw a desired emotional response from an audience.

Dracula's personality and behavior is wildly different depending on who is writing him, because different authors use Dracula to create different reactions in their audiences. In the 1931 film starring Bela Lugosi, he's equal parts alluring and disturbing, a symbol of America's mixed desire and disdain for foreigners. In Nosferatu, he's more strictly frightening and disgusting. In Francis Ford Coppola's movie, he's a tragic, romantic figure clinging to the last scraps of his humanity. In Netflix's Castlevania, he's an incredibly powerful being who has grown bitter and apathetic in his immortality. All of this is Dracula, and all of it is fine, because Dracula is not and never has been a central figure in anyone's religion.

Let's take a look at what happens when authors give this same treatment to real gods:

In Hellenic polytheism, Apollo is one of the most beloved gods, both historically and today. Apollo loves humanity, and humanity loves him back. He is the god of sunlight and of medicine, but also of poetry and song. He is one of humanity's most consistent defenders when one of the other gods gets wrathful. And while he does have dangerous or wrathful aspects of his own (he's also the god of disease, after all), he's also kind and soft with humanity in a way other gods often aren't, at least in some historic sources.

In the Lore Olympus comic series, Apollo is a villain. He's characterized as an abuser, a manipulator, and a violent man child. LO!Apollo is downright hateful, because the author wants us to hate him. Lore Olympus is a retelling of a myth about an abduction and forced marriage. Lore Olympus is also a romance. In order to get the audience to sympathize with Hades and root for his relationship with Persephone, Rachel Smythe needed to make someone else the villain. Apollo is the most obvious and extreme character assassination in Smythe's work, but several other gods (notably Demeter) also get the asshole makeover to tell the story Smythe wants to tell.

Here's where this becomes a problem: Hellenic polytheism is a fairly small religious community, while Lore Olympus is a massively popular webtoon with 1.3 billion views as of August 2023, print books available from major retailers, a TV adaptation in the works, and a very active online fandom. Rachel Smythe currently has a MUCH bigger platform than any Hellenic polytheism practitioner. Smythe and other authors are shaping how modern culture views the Hellenic gods, and that has a very real impact on their worshipers.

This means "Apollo is an abusive asshole" is becoming a popular take online, and is even creeping into pagan communities. I've personally seen people be harassed for worshiping Apollo because of it. I've seen new pagans and pagan-curious folks who totally misunderstand the roles Apollo, Hades, and Persephone play in the Hellenic pantheon because of Lore Olympus and other modern works of fiction.

There are tons of other examples of this in modern pop culture, but I'll just rattle off a few of the ones that annoy me most: Rick Riordan depicting Ares/Mars as a brutish asshole hyped up on toxic masculinity; Rick Riordan depicting Athena as a mother goddess; Marvel depicting Thor as a dumb jock; Marvel depicting Odin as a cold, uncaring father; DC depicting Ares as purely evil; whatever the fuck the Vikings TV show was trying to do with seidr; the list goes on.

All of these are examples of religious appropriation. Religious appropriation is when sacred symbols are taken out of their original religious context by outsiders, so that the original meaning is lost or changed. It requires a power imbalance -- the person taking the symbols is usually part of a dominant religious culture. In many cases, the person doing the appropriation has a much bigger platform than anyone who has the knowledge to correct them.

When Rick Rioridan or Rachel Smythe totally mischaracterizes a Greek god to tell a story, and then actual Hellenic pagans get harassed for worshiping that god, that's religious appropriation.

Religious appropriation is a real issue. This isn't just pagans being sensitive. To use an extreme example: Richard Wagner and other German Romantic authors in the 19th century used the Norse gods and other Germanic deities as symbols in their work, which was a major influence on Nazi philosophy. Without Wagner, the Nazis would not have latched onto the Norse gods as symbols of their white supremacist agenda. To this day, there are white supremacist groups who claim to worship our gods or who use our religious imagery in their hate movement. We are still reckoning with the misinterpretation of our gods popularized by Wagner and other German Romantics almost 200 years ago.

Again, no one is saying you can't enjoy fiction based on pagan mythology. But there are a few things you can do to help prevent religious appropriation in fandom spaces:

Above all else, be mindful that while this may just be a story to you, it is someone's religion.

Recognize that enjoying fiction based on our gods does not mean you know our gods. You know fictional characters with the same names as our gods, who may or may not be accurate to real-life worship.

Do not argue with or try to correct pagans when we talk about our experience of our gods.

Don't invalidate or belittle pagan worship. Again, this mostly comes down to recognizing that our religion is totally separate from your fandom. We aren't LARPing or playing pretend. Our sacred traditions are real and valid.

If you see other people in your fandom engaging in religious appropriation, point out what they are doing and why it isn't okay.

Please tag your fandom content appropriately on social media. Always tag the show, movie, book, etc. that a post is about in addition to other relevant tags. This allows pagans to block these fandom tags if we don't want to see them and prevents fandom content showing up in religious tags.

For example, if I'm posting about Athena from the Percy Jackson books, I would tag the post #athena #athenapjo #percyjackson #pjo. You get the idea.

And if fiction sparks your interest and you want to learn more about the actual worship of the gods, you can always ask! Most pagans love talking about our gods and trading book recs.

If you are writing fiction based on real mythology, talk to people who worship those gods. Ask them what a respectful portrayal would look like. If possible, include a note in your finished work reminding audiences that it is a work of fiction and not meant to accurately portray these gods.

[writeblrcafe]

Webzine submissions open for writing!

Dear writers on tumblr, pour yourself a drink on the house. We've been asking for editors for our webzine in the last few weeks (you can still sign up here). We are focusing on going into different worlds. Now, we can announce that we are accepting writing submissions for it!

Who can submit writing?

All writers can submit writing to our zine, whether you have already published other works. Or have previously shared other writing pieces on [tumblr] or Archive of our own (or similar platforms). Our editors will pick their favourite pieces for each category based on different criteria, the most important thing is how well the pieces fit our theme Portal to Another World.

What kind of writing can I submit?

We are open to any form of writing! You can submit any form of writing from poetry, prose, flash fiction, a short story, song lyrics or even a non-fiction essay. As long as it fits the theme and is unpublished. Our theme is Portal to Another World. Unpublished in this case means it isn't published in print or online. You can't submit excerpts from your WIPs when they can't be understood outside the context of your WIP.

Will you compensate me?

As much as we would love to pay all contributors, we don't have the funds. We discussed this on our server and decided we want our zine accessible to all readers. Understand this is a passion project, so you will not be compensated for your writing. The finished zine will be shared as a free PDF download with a pay-what-you-want option on our KoFi. The little money we make from the zine will be used to fund future projects of writeblrcafé (e.g. a second zine) and boosts for our Discord server.

Where can I submit my writing?

Just fill in the form below! You can submit your writing as a PDF file. The word limit for prose is 2500 words. The limit for poetry is 50 verses. You can only submit one piece of writing. If your piece of writing is longer, feel free to submit it. We will decide on a case-to-case basis. We hope many of you take this chance to collaborate on our webzine, which will be compiled in a compelling design.

Extended submissions deadline: 15th July

Submissions for artwork will open soon!

Please reblog this post to spread the word in the writing community!

[eyelinerandmcr]

🦇 ATHENA'S INTRODUCTION POST

ill put stuff at more length but to some it up basically i love mcr more than anything i like to draw i LOVE listening to and making music, im teaching myself guitar rn and its hard even though ive been playing piano since i was 8 😞. and i use she/her, im greek orthodox christian and i support all religions <3 btw i would never try to convert someone to my religion or push it on anyone else in any way bc thats weird and i also dont talk about it that much incase religion is the kind of thing that makes u uncomfortable, its not like something i bring up!! + FREE PALESTINE!! 🇵🇸🇵🇸 but yeah tehrese mroe under the cut 😋

→ MY INTERESTS: music: my chemical romance (my fave!! (obviously)), pierce the veil (my second fave!!), ls dunes, amy winehouse, black veil brides, ayesha erotica, evanescence, bring me the horizon, chappell roan, escape the fate, taking back sunday, gerard way, p!atd, three days grace, pencey prep, misfits, sleeping with sirens, the cure, fall out boy, more but i cant remember

youtubers i watch: chad chad, stephanie lange, salem tovar, danny gonzalez, film cooper, drew gooden, not even emily, sarah chio, ally purugganan, jarvis johnson, erika diane shes my comfort ytber😭, kurtis conner, annemarie forcino

books i love: !!literally anything by leigh bardugo shes my fave!!, the hunger games series including the ballad of songbirds and snakes, the house in the cerulean sea, the red queen series, the book thief, loveless, a tree grows in brooklyn, hell followed with us, the scythe series, darius the great is not okay, a wrinkle in time, i am the cheese, hole, the bell jar, that was then this is now, station eleven. always open to recs! <3

hobbies: writing, drawing, doing my makeup, thrifting, reading (especially fantasy), going on walks, baking, singing, collecting perfumes, listening to music, analyzing poetry and lyrics, teaching myself guitar, painting my nails, debating about pretty much anything as long as it stays respectful, journaling, sewing and altering clothes, making collages, swimming, playing the piano, watching long video essays on youtube (especially ones about anything related to music), talking to my friends irl or online, talking about music but especially mcr!!

people i'll write fics about (requests are currently open): gerard way, frank iero, mikey way, pretty much any character/person in the mcr fandom, vic fuentes, tony perry, but honestly feel free to request anyone! (speaking of fic writing: i wont write non-con or age play or illegal age gaps or anything along the lines of that; i won't write smut about an underage person; please do not plagiarize my work my writing is one of my favorite things and i work really hard on it) Fanfiction Masterlist

⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ → DNI: - if you are anti palestine/pro israel (this does NOT mean anti hamas! i don't support hamas! i mean if you believe that the people of palestine do not deserve to be free and live on their own land) - if you are racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, or discriminatory towards any group of people - if youre over like thirty or something but honestly idc just dont be weird ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆ → OTHER PLATFORMS: a03: lanaslollipop

[viviennevermillion]

With an s/o who is a writer

notes: so we have this now

contains: character x gn!reader, established relationship

characters included: leona kingscholar, rook hunt, idia shroud, malleus draconia

warnings: none

dark content creators & consumers do not interact

Okay so Leona is like, the last person in the cast who'd be into creative writing if it wasn't for the fact that he was dating a writer but he's supportive. He's got the spirit. Even if he has different priorities.

Literally comes into your room, sees you sitting at your laptop and working on a story and he's like: "Are ya winning?" He pulls a chair next to yours and rests his head on your shoulder, looking at your draft with you. "Tf am I supposed to be winning?", you chuckle and ruffle his hair, gently scratching his ear in the process. "I don't know, the recognition of the internet people or something. You were the one who said 'Spite can be a great writing motivation' if I recall correctly", he shrugs and presses a kiss to your cheek. "It's not a competition, you know?", you laugh and get up, shoving your chair to the side to sit on Leona's lap instead.

He doesn't mind just wrapping his arms around your waist and letting you sit on his lap while you write. He'll read along and rest his head on your shoulder from behind, wrapping his tail around you as well. Now you have a clingy oversized cat attached to you while you work on your latest project. Congrats. He probably falls asleep halfway through, not that you'd mind.

It took a while for you to feel comfortable to show Leona your writing, because the second prince of Sunset Savannah could be quite the judgemental person. Leona would never mock anything you cared about as soon as he started dating you but seeing his demeanor towards other people still made you hesitate. But Leona has been supportive of you ever since you talked to him about your passion, even if he doesn't quite get it. Honestly be glad Leona isn't someone who'd ever start writing because he's inspired by you, he would turn this into a competition.

If you post your works online, Leona makes an account on whatever platform you post them on solely to follow you and support you. If you work on something for several hours and get less notes than someone with two paragraphs Leona is more frustrated than you.

He originally just wanted to support you but he finds himself surprised at how the plot of your stories actually intrigues him and he's curious what happens next.

If you write poetry, he's less involved. He just doesn't get poetry. He's like "why don't they just say what they mean?"

If you ever get Leona to write anything it'd be literate roleplay. Only joins because you asked him but gets really into it halfway through. Wants to make his character cool and wants him to fight the other characters. He's like "this is my character, he's a king and he can do whatever he wants-"

Leona's stylistic device is using poetic descriptions in the same sentence with words like "bastard" and "shitfaced" and he somehow manages to actually pull this off

You took him to tabletop night with Idia and Azul once and he got himself perma-banned from Board Game Club because he fucked with their nerves so much that they never wanted to see him there again.

He's worried you might be mad at him at first. "Nah it was kinda funny", you reassure him, "though if we ever do this again it should probably just be the two of us..." Leona chuckles and pulls you close, pressing a kiss to your temple.

Rook writes poetry himself and he loves the arts so he's so on board with this.

But, listen. Rook is that one reader every writer wants but few of us actually get. He reads literally anything you write ever and he responds by sending you like a whole essay of his thoughts on the characters and the plot in depth and how it made him feel.

"Beauté", Rook tears up and pulls you into a hug, kissing your forehead enthusiastically, "I must thank you, mon chéri / ma chérie, by sharing the work you put your heart into with me and presenting me with the result of your creativity and passion; you have made my heart feel a little more complete and my mind more enlightened. Because you have chosen to let me view the beauty that is your prose and poetry, every day I get one step closer to truly call myself le chasseur d'amour! Truly extraordinary!" He takes your hands into his and looks deeply into your eyes as he tells you this; like he's confessing the full extent of his love to you. He cups your cheeks and kisses your lips softly, trying to convey all the feelings that overwhelm his heart and that words would never do justice to you.

He will gush about your works to Vil and Epel so much that they are tired of hearing about it.

He’d be happy if you tell him your thoughts about his poetry too. He writes a lot of it but he doesn’t really have anyone to talk about it with because most people just don’t get his poetry. But if you keep an open mind and give him some appreciation for what he wrote, Rook is so thankful and excited.

He’s so excited for anything new you write. “Feel free to notify me immediately once you’re finished with your newest chef-d'œuvre, even if it’s the middle of the night and I am asleep”, he smiles at you and kisses your hand. 

He’s not kidding, btw

He wakes up in the morning to see you snuggled up against him and he gives you a kiss on the forehead, waking you up softly. “Ugh…just 10 more minutes”, you groan and bury your face in his chest. Rook chuckles and runs his fingertips up and down your back. “You seem very tired, mon cœur”, he whispers and presses a kiss to your lips. You kiss back gently and wrap your arms around him. “Were you working on your newest oeuvre d'art until late at night again?”, he asks and shakes his head. He loves everything you make but he’d rather have you well-rested and comfortable. You confirm his suspicions with a tired nod. “Well, did you finish it?”, he asks. “Yes”, you mumble and try to hide from the rising sun by burying your face in his neck. “Didn’t I tell you to wake me up, so I can read it?”, he gets up and turns on your laptop, carrying it over to the bed so you can enter the password. “I thought you were exaggerating”, you shrugged and opened your finished project. “When have I ever exaggerated?”, Rook asks and wraps an arm around you while his eyes wandered across the document, “you should know best that all I express towards you is nothing but raw, unfiltered honesty.” You sigh. “Right, you have a point.”

Getting to read your newest work literally makes his day. Rook is your biggest fan definitely.

Okay you can't tell me Idia doesn't write fanfiction or at least read it. That man has been through every genre of fanworks.

You write? He admires that. You write fanfiction? Even better.

Send him soul-crushing angst of his favorite characters please, his reactions are so funny. He's like "why would you do this to my poor otaku heart HEFHHSJEHFHSBFDBSNFXNNENNSNR 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭"

He will literally commission you or request from you to write his ideas and surprise him with something he'd love.

He'd be like, kicking his legs and text you his live-reaction.

Idia is one of those people who request from you and make it so hyper-specific that you need to read into the lore of an entirely new game or anime just to even understand what exactly he wants. He'd send you "Can you write angst with this character if his love interest had the blood curse from the hit-game 'Below the 2nd Temple' but if the blood curse made you seek out the 5 goblets of wisdom and then drop dead. What would be their reaction to the one they love dearly leading such a pitiful existence? Oh and can you make the dragon from the sequel 'Below the 3rd Temple' appear at the end when the love interest runs out of horvathian gemstones?" and you sit there like what the fuck did he just say????

He's like "oh it's all on the official forum lore section" as if you're going to read in-depth lore for a game you never played just to write his angsty crossover AU.

"Why don't you write it yourself at this point?", you look at him and sigh. "But I love your works", Idia wraps his arms around you from behind and kisses your cheek repeatedly, pulling you into his lap.

He will absolutely try to bribe you into writing it. He'll offer you kisses and a nice, warm bath and a massage....whether you fall for it is up to you.

But he's so happy when he gets the final result. He geeks out about it to Azul who understands even less about the request than you when you first started working on it.

Idia would also do semi-literate and literate roleplay with you online.

Overall loves that you're a writer and will support you whenever you need it. Idia can actually be pretty creative himself so when you struggle to continue and lack an idea, he might just deliver exactly what you need.

Malleus has read many books throughout his lifetime. Be it biographies, fiction or textbooks about all kinds of topics. Most of them were outdated and the writing style of the novels he’s read has long since gone out of fashion. 

Malleus is mostly unfamiliar with the modern way of writing stories. Hell, many of the things he’s read have been written with a magical pen and ink. The Briar Valley castle libraries contain many books that are unique and don’t have any other copies in the whole world. The newer ones were written on a typewriter. 

He’s super interested when you tell him you write as a hobby for the first time. He’s seen many printed books since coming to Night Raven College but watching you just pull out your laptop and write a whole story in just a couple of hours is fascinating to him. He lets you sit on his lap and wraps his arms around you. He rests his head on your shoulder or against your head and watches as the words just seem to spill onto the pages. He reads along and asks you a couple of questions in the meantime, still being careful not to distract you though. 

“Why did the king say this to his daughter?”, Malleus asks with a surprised expression, “is he hiding something?” You chuckle. “You’ll find that out in about five chapters”, you turn around a bit to be able to press a sweet kiss to his lips. Malleus smiles and puts his hands on his hips. “And when do I get to read those?”, he asks and you let out a sigh. “Only god knows”, you bury your head in your hands, “if the heavens decide to randomly inject me with whatever writer steroids I was on when I wrote the first three chapters, it might be tomorrow after an all-nighter and an unholy amount of coffee. If things don’t go well it could be next New Year’s Day.” “But it’s January…”, Malleus sighs.

He’s always the first to witness all the frustrations that come with being a writer. He finds it amusing but he also hopes you always find the motivation and productivity you want. 

If you write poetry, Malleus always reads it with great interest, trying to search for messages within the lines. Before the two of you got together, this was how he’s been trying to look for hints of your feelings for him.

He’s so unfamiliar with the modern world that sometimes he finds out way later that something you mentioned in your works is in fact not a fictional thing you made up. He’ll smile at you and tell you how creative you are for coming up with all this fantastic and wondrous stuff and then you rent an apartment with him to stay at during your fourth year internships. “Wait, you’re telling me roombas are real???”, he just stares at the little apparatus cleaning your living room floor in awe. You raise an eyebrow: “You thought they were fake?” He just stares at you with a slightly confused expression.

Malleus is actually pretty easily motivated to write something himself. And he’s good at it too, given his eloquent way of speaking and writing that has been taught to him at a young age due to him being a prince. He has so many in-depth thoughts, it’s pretty easy for him to make detailed descriptions of something and bring a story to life. He projects a lot too. Like, you know him too well and you just know exactly where the lines in the story about the lonely gargoyle just wishing for a friend or for anyone to care about his feelings come from. But that’s a conversation for another day. 

[nobodysdaydreams]

How I Think Various Members of the Mysterious Benedict Society (show) Would Use Social Media (in no particular order)

Miss. Perumal: makes Instagram reels about being a homeschooling mother (in a good way) and shares education tips with other parents and teachers.

Jackson and Jillson: Do dance routines together on TikTok. The entire comment section is speculating on whether they are dating or siblings. They never clarify because the speculation keeps their account popular.

Sticky: He has the most professional looking LinkedIn you could possibly imagine and also has membership on those fancy sites where professors post their research.

Reynie: Got a Facebook and rarely uses it because he spends most of his time on Goodreads where he has hundreds of followers because he gives the best book recommendations.

Kate: Went viral for doing circus tricks on TikTok (as she should).

Constance: Has a twitter she uses exclusively to bully Curtain. Has another twitter she uses to pretend to be Curtain’s friend to gain his trust and learn his secrets in order to manipulate him. She also has a tumblr where she posts poetry but like all good tumblr users, no one knows it’s her.

SQ: Has an art Instagram account that’s super popular. Follows a ton of psychology accounts about toxic parenting and boundary setting.

Jeffers: Somehow ended up on a random side of TikTok that has nothing to do with him or he got himself cancelled on accident.

Dr. Garrison: Sends Curtain anonymous hate and follows Sticky on LinkedIn under a fake name. Spends most of her time on academic platforms updating her research portfolio.

Number Two: became mutuals with SQ because they both follow the same psychology accounts about boundary setting and toxic parenting. They don’t know who each other is, so neither understands the implications of this.

Rhonda: runs a positivity account and posts stuff like “you’re doing amazing!” and “take some time to be grateful today!”. Everyone knows her as “that nice lady from the internet!”

Martina: Bullies people online through anon accounts until she gets some therapy and turns it around and starts live blogging tetherball matches instead.

Nicholas: he spends a lot of time on Goodreads and has a TikTok where he reviews books. He also keeps trying to DM Nathaniel on various social media platforms. Nathaniel leaves hate comments under Nicholas’ videos, but Nicholas never blocks him because he hopes his brother will keep commenting (and he views this as a healthier way for Nathaniel to express his anger. More social media hate, less time taking over the world. Plus Constance bullies him right back, so it’s even).

Milligan: films videos and makes posts about woodworking, grilling, and wilderness survival because these are his hobbies. People follow him for that, and then one day Kate is in one of his videos and the entire comment section is “WAIT THIS GUY IS THE VIRAL CIRCUS GIRL’S DAD??”

Nathaniel Benedict/LD Curtain: has tons of old accounts because he’s been cancelled so many times. He made an account to promote the Institute that he never showed his face on and one to promote his happiness cult that he later deleted. He also made a secret account under a fake name that he uses to follow Nicholas and comment on his posts to earn his trust. Nathaniel smugly considers this high level spy work that Nicholas is none the wiser to, but he mainly uses the account because he misses Nicholas, and he doesn’t get a ton of intelligence from it. Meanwhile, Nicholas thinks of this account as a mutual and online friend that happens to remind him of his brother that he really misses.

[areyougonnabe]

I know nothing about polar exploration! Or Shackleton! But you seem excited about it!

Have a favourite fact you'd like to share?!?

well my two favorite facts have already been shared which are the cautionary tale of the toxic polar polycule and the story of the antarctic lovebirds !!!

but here is a contender for #3... the tale of jessamine.

let's start with our homies Deb (left) and Griff (right), aka Frank Debenham and T. Griffith Taylor, the geologists of terra nova's cape evans shore party:

they would both later go onto impressive careers in academia, start families, basically be well-liked hard-working guys (also participants in 20th century imperialism but let's take that as given based on our starting point of this expedition lol)

BUT we are meeting them here, in antarctica, aged 27 and 30, "Early Career Researchers" as we might call them now. trying to keep busy with SCIENCE during the long antarctic winter night of 1911!!!!!

these guys go way back btw. Deb was born and raised in Australia and and Griff moved to Australia when he was a kid, and they both attended the fancy-schmancy King's School near Sydney, the Australian equivalent of british public school (e.g. Eton). according to griff they were family friends at that time although they would have been a few years apart at school.

later around 1908 they both studied at the University of Sydney under leading geologist Sir Edgeworth David, who had been on Shackleton's Nimrod expedition and reached the South Magnetic Pole with Mawson. They both ended up being hired onto Scott's expedition through university connections, Deb via Professor David and Griff through a scholarship to Cambridge where he met Wilson.

okay. backstory established. now one thing you need to know about Griff is that he was a total freak. like Racovitza, he was a Poster before there were online platforms to Post on. if you had that kind of brain back then, and no access to adderall, you had to just sit around inventing new kinds of science instead of deep-frying spongebob screencaps. he was a consummate edwardian memelord who would read a novel per day and still have time to write 20 pages of diary in which he would floridly record the silliest things that happened since the morning, the various quirks and quotes of expedition members, and then complain about captain scott in shorthand.

to say nothing of his passion for CREATIVE WRITING! vitally, Griff was one of the main contributors to the Cape Evans hut magazine, the South Polar Times edited by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. there were 3 issues of this during the winter of 1911 and 1 issue during the winter of 1912, the latter of which included much material written/submitted during 1911 before the polar party met with tragedy.

Griff was a versatile writer, and his pieces (which would sometimes cumulatively make up nearly half an issue of the SPT by page count) ran the gamut from expository nonfiction to speculative poetry to comedic epistolary to magazine pastiche. he had certain motifs that he frequently returned to—none as compelling, in my opinion, as that of Jessamine. or Jasmine, or Jessie, or Jessica, as the case may be...

it all began, according to Griff's diary, early in the austral winter of 1911, when Deb was "christened Jasmine by Titus [Oates]."

where this nickname came from is unclear—many of the men had picked up female nicknames on the voyage down (see "Jane" Atkinson, "Marie" Nelson, "Penelope" Pennell) but Deb had not been on the voyage down because he had gotten picked up in Australia, so this may have been a belated attempt to correct that omission. Griff wrote in his book about the expedition, "We were short of female society—which lack also accounts for Jessie Debenham as an alternative to Deb."

in any case, the name clearly caught on: on midwinter day, a little under two months after the nickname's debut, Griff recorded that during the gift exchange after dinner "Every second present or so was a necklace or earrings for Miss Jessie Debenham."

(deb and titus at midwinter dinner)

THIS GOT REALLY LONG SO CLICK READ MORE IF YOU ARE INTERESTED!!

in the second SPT issue of 1911, Griff's 17-page narrative "The Bipes" describes the inhabitants of the Cape Evans hut from the perspective of a rabbit who lives in the stables. you can read the whole thing here and please do!!! (you'll need a VPN outside the US) BUT here is the relevant bit dealing with Deb:

U. PULCHERRIMA. This Bipe inhabits a strongly defended Bungkh in the Ubdug burrow. It is supported by mighty baulks of timber and can only be reached by means of a dangerous ladder. The Bungkh is supplied with heavy hammers, piles of stones and other offensive weapons. These precautions are, I believe, necessary in the Bipe courtship, for she is often called upon to repel members of other burrows who approach her balcony with blandishments. Her time is chiefly occupied with a primitive quern or handmill, and at this she grinds for long hours every day. I judge that this merely satisfies some primitive habit, for no flour seems to be produced. But it is pleasant to see how strong is the feminine instinct.

the species name "Pulcherrima" is also the species name of the pointsetta flower, and can be translated to "beautiful woman" (i think??)

here's the illustration produced by Bill Wilson (based on Griff's sketch) to accompany the above - yes that's a portrait of Griff in her bunk and Birdie below attempting to woo her:

it must be noted that Meares, nicknamed "Mother," also gets cast in a female role in the Bipes piece, but does not receive the privilege of being drawn in a skirt, rip.

anyway, the next issue of the SPT, vol 3 issue III, is the last one to be produced before the end of winter. Griff decided to one-up himself and write a piece in which Jessamine takes center stage. The Ladies Letter is a pitch-perfect parody of the "Ladies Column" sections that appeared in many periodicals of the era—full of french fashion terms and simpering style suggestions. Griff brilliantly adapts the format for a pastiche on the subject of Antarctic fashion; not free, naturally, from general whiffs of period-typical misogyny, but as those being mocked in specific are fellow expedition members and not any actual women i forgive him.

written in the form of a letter from Jessamine to her absent friend Cynthia (whose identity i'm unsure of BUT i'm tempted to say is supposed to be Priestley, away at Cape Adare), the piece again features multiple expedition members in female roles, including Silas as "American" Sally Wright, Cherry as "Madame Chérie - that dear delightful person - who builds her beautiful creations on strictly scientific principles of hygiene and aesthetics" and Birdie as Madame Berdé, who "finds that for well developed figures it is most distinctive to use a cross-gartering well above the ankle. She herself is naturally a consistent exponent of this latter fashion."

and then of course there is Jessamine's star turn. she is wearing the newest fashion, "a modification of last year's 'tube skirt' [which] even more closely swathes the lower limbs, and it is necessary that the wearer should be rolled along by her maid."

Jessamine reveals that she is planning to induce Titus Oates to bring her a proposal of marriage through the clever use of themed charms on her chatelaine.

All the smartest girls have wreathed chains of mascots around the skirt, and a pretty idea, which I commend to you, is to have silver model made of those articles which interest THE ONLY MAN WHO COUNTS. Breathe this to no one! But Mappin & Webb are making me such a choice set. The cutest little pony; a horse snowshoe (this is very lucky); a dead rabbit; a popgun; and a silver blazon PER MARE PER TERRAM PRO TITO; this will be attached to my 'tube', and then I really do expect to bring him to a proposal.

this scenario was illustrated hilariously by Bill, complete with Jessamine being rolled along, and Titus ignoring her as could be expected, in favor of a pony (Christopher?):

now, Deb is on record saying that Titus was his best friend on the expedition, but it may well be a classic case of "you are not your best friend's best friend," because per other accounts Oates was much closer to Meares and Atch than he was to Deb. that's just an observation to add a little flavor to Jessamine's desperate pursuit as portrayed here...

and not to look a gift horse (ha) in the mouth, but i do feel that Bill's illustrations don't quiiiiiite do the genderfuckery of Griff's text justice—Jessamine describes herself as wearing a frock inspired by the aurora, but Bill instead draws Deb in normal sledging gear plus some non-dress-shaped colorful streamers. a missed opportunity...

also, lest you think that Griff was the only one partaking in the Jessamine joke in the SPT, there is also a sneaky reference in the anonymous feature "My Favorite Book":

(J-SS-- [JESSIE]: "Not like other girls")

BUT WAIT. THERE'S EVEN MORE.

viewing the handwritten drafts of the SPT held at the SPRI (because all of this is going to be an actual academic paper someday hopefully lol), i learned that there were a fair handful of references omitted from the final version, presumably thanks to Cherry's editorial oversight.

one "answer to correspondents" written by "Marie" Nelson went as follows:

Jessica: A single lady cannot be too careful about the respectability of her lodgings or the character of her companions.

(referencing Deb bunking with Griff and Gran, two of the more annoying/messy people in the hut)

and an unused entry in "Songs And Their Singers" by Teddy Evans was:

Oh What’s Womans Duty - Jasmin

lastly, and most importantly, the drafts contained the one instance i could find of deb firing back about this whole thing.

vol IV of the SPT consisted of one issue released during winter 1912, when a lot of people had gone home (including Griff), and everyone left behind knew the polar party was dead and they'd have to go look for their bodies in the spring. it was not a fun time. vol IV contained a lot of material written the previous year but not included, since for obvious reasons folks weren't really up to being silly. one of those pieces was "A Day's Doings, Told By Our Diarist," written during winter 1911 by Deb as a parody of Griff. it's pretty funny in published form (p. 72 of this pdf)—Deb is on-point mocking Griff's dislike of eating ("Breakfast is an unintellectual meal, so gave it a miss. Better a bit more bunk than a bite more breakfast.") and his never-ending theorizing ("Thought out a new theory as to the origin of debris cones: yesterday’s wasn’t good enough").

however, the draft is exponentially more hilarious. Cherry, damn him, cut the absolute BEST BIT:

Made a genre sketch of Jasmine brushing her (his) hair – it’s a fool nickname anyways, mixes up the genders. 

knowing Deb—quiet, patient, chronically non-confrontational—that's about as explicit as he was willing to get, as far as revealing how he felt about the nickname. writing Griff realizing that it's a bit silly, he reveals to some degree his own discomfort. now, was it a "protest too much" situation or had he genuinely gotten fed up with being the Designated Girl Of The Hut? we shall never know!!!!!!!!

however the draft of the piece ends thusly: "[I] got paralysed at chess by the wily Jasmine, it’s a mud game, if ever there was one. Hinc illae lacrimae!"

so despite all the aspersions cast on her honor, and the failure of Titus Oates to accept her proposal, Jessie still triumphs in the end :)))

[daisychains334]

when i was young, i thought i’d be an artist. so i told everyone i knew.

i drew and drew with the supplies i had, but one day i ran out. so, for christmas that year; i got a beautiful paint set. but i didn’t use it because i didn’t want to ruin it; to mess it up with my art.

my art, that i suddenly thought was inferior. unworthy of the beautiful paints and colors. i thought i could never create something beautiful enough to justify those paints.

(i haven’t drawn in months.)

when i got a little older, i thought i’d be a drummer. so i begged my parents for lessons.

i played and played on the small drumset i had at the time, but i grew bored of it. i wanted to do something bigger, play more advanced songs. so i got a more advanced drumset. a bigger one. but i never played on it. i pretty much stopped playing drums entirely. the skills i had were too embarrassing to use on a drumset like that.

my music, that i suddenly thought was silly. unworthy of the loud, melodical drumset. i thought i could never play something impressive enough to justify a drumset like that.

(i don’t know when the last time i even looked at my drums was.)

and when i grew up even more, i thought i could be a runner, so i ran with my dad every day and followed a strict workout plan.

i ran and ran in my little neighborhood, the same old 20-minute mile i was used to, but i wanted to do something better. so i started training to join the cross-country team. but i quit halfway through. i realized i wasn’t good enough.

my running, that i suddenly thought was slow, unworthy of something as big and committed as the cross-country team. i thought i could never run well enough to justify being on that team.

(i can barely even run a 30-minute mile now.)

just recently, i decided i wanted to write poetry. i only told a few close friends about it and posted it to tumblr.

i post and post here on tumblr, and i can feel myself wanting to put it on a bigger platform. to share what i write with the real world, but im scared. i’m scared i won’t be ready and im scared that i’ll be scared forever. i’m scared that i’ll never be ready.

my poetry, that i hope to never think of as garbage, unworthy to share with anyone other than a handful of people online that i’ll never meet. but i don’t know if i think it’s good enough to justify sharing with anyone else.

(but i’ll give myself more time, this time. because right now, i still write every day, and i want to keep it that way.)

[silmarillionwritersguild]

Mark Your Calendars! Mereth Aderthad 2025 is coming!

We are excited to announce that we will be hosting an event on July 19, 2025 in celebration of our twentieth birthday! The event will be hybrid, with both virtual and in-person options, with the in-person event taking place at the South Burlington Library in Burlington, Vermont. For those able to attend in-person, we will also host community meals and other outings the weekend of the event.

In the spirit of the SWG's (almost) twenty-year history, the event will involve both research/scholarship and fanworks components, as we seek to showcase and celebrate the variety of ways that Tolkien fans engage with and illuminate his work through fiction, artwork, poetry, research, scholarship and meta, music, and other forms. If you'd like to present research, create a fanwork for the event, or attend either in-person or online, we encourage you to follow us on at least one of our social platforms so that you receive updates as they come in:

Subscribe to the SWG's weekly newsletter

Join our Discord server and watch the #announcements channel for updates

Follow us on Tumblr

Follow us on Dreamwidth

In the next few weeks, we will open the call for presenters for research, meta, and scholarship.

Right now, we are looking for volunteers to help with the various tasks we will be faced with over the next ten months. You do not need to be able to attend in-person to volunteer, and there is no minimum time commitment. Anything helps! If you'd like to volunteer, send us an ask, email the mods, contact us on any of our social media platforms, or post to the #town-hall on our Discord. Let us know if you'd like to be on the logistics committee (scheduling, tech setup and testing, weekend outings, etc.) or the promotions committee (graphics design, social media, presenter interviews, etc.) or both!

Click here to see the full information that's available for the Mereth Aderthad 2025 event.

[favs4palestine]

Your fav supports Palestine: Wonder Woman

Zionists seem pressed over my last WW edit, so let me make something clear: Wonder Woman would never endorse the genocide and ethnic cleansing that Isnotreal is committing against Palestinians. She would never support a regime that kills thousands of children in a span of weeks, or a government who plans to build beach front buildings on mass graves.

The world is full of ruins of arrogant nations who thought they would last forever, but they always fall over the brink when they reach their haughtiest. The masks have fallen and everyone sees you for who you are.

Palestine will be free, with or without your support.

For dear Palestinian allies, you’re doing great. And please remember never to engage with Zionists online. The truth is out there, many ex-Zionists found their way, and if current Zionists wanted to stand for justice, they would. Block and report on sight if need be. Many Zionists are paid to debate online, so do not give them your platform nor give them room to debate, as there’s nothing debatable about genocide. Save your energy for spreading awareness, calling your reps, attending protests, making art or poetry, and talking to your loved ones about Palestine.

Take care. ❤️🤍🖤💚

[missterwild]

Ranger's Apprentice actors AU Social Media edition

Will's actor seemingly has very little cohesion with what he posts, but his followers are used to his chaos. His account is very honest, even if some people could call it blunt.

Horace's actor probably has the chillest social media account of the cast. He generally uses his main account to check what's going on and share recipes and photos.

While Halt's actor sometimes denies to have social media, but he definitely engages in the occasional beef on his "anonymous" account.

Gilan's actor is barely any less chaotic than Will's, though he has a more limited range of things he posts, chiefly behind the scenes, parkour videos and medieval weaponry. He also interacts a lot with fans, especially to give advice to aspiring actors and stunt artists.

Crowley's actor technically has social media, but to be honest, he barely posts anything. He checks what's going on every once in a while, but not much more. He likes his mental health too much for that.

Alyss's actress does have a social media account, though a lot of people think otherwise. There's also the fact that she doesn't use her real name and that she doesn't really show her face. Her content is mostly poetry reading.

Cassandra's actress probably has the most active social media account. She shares a lot of artistic stuff, sometimes in phase, sometime all muddled together. Like Gilan's, she interacts a lot with her fans.

Duncan's actor has a social media account mostly for news, marketing and his writing club. He mostly posts writing stuff, photography and the occasional promotion for his current projects.

Morgarath's actor doesn't seem to have any form of social media, yet he's somehow keenly aware of whatever shenanigans are happening on social media platforms. Even the cast and crew closest to him haven't been able to get him to say how he does it. (It's his sister, his sister keeps him informed on the fuckery going on online.)

[drsonnet]

You Don’t Need Your Glasses, Santa

You Don’t Need Your Glasses, Santa

By Basman Aldirawi

Translated by Tala Ladki

Do you see that black cloud over there, Santa?

There used to be a child from Gaza, waiting for a present.

Waiting to go out with his father to the Unknown Soldier’s Square:

To ride the little cars there.

To go to the beach.

To play with the sand and the waves.

To buy a cup of corn.

Then to go home, to sleep

under the sound of the buzzing, hovering warplanes:

the ones the child thought were a part of the sky,

………….the sounds of the universe.

Did he tell you about his dreams before he slept?

What were they?

Did he dream about living, growing old?

Or maybe, like other children, he told you that children in Gaza don’t grow old.

You don’t need to put on your glasses, Santa.

See that black cloud over there, the one that rose up from the bombings just a few hours ago?

Under it lie the murdered bodies of the child,

………….his father, his mother, and his siblings.

Under it lie the toys, the house,

………….and the whole neighborhood.

And an unanswered list of hopes and dreams.

لست بحاجة لارتداء نظاراتك، سانتا

هل ترى تلك السحابة السوداء هناك يا سانتا؟

هناك كان طفل من غزة

ينتظر هدية

ينتظر أن يخرج مع ابيه

إلى منتزه الجندي المجهول

أن يركب السيارات الصغيرة هناك

أن يذهب إلى البحر

يلعب مع الرمال والأمواج

ويشتري كوب من الذرة

ثم يعود إلى البيت لينام

تحت صوت الطائرة الزنانة

التي ظن الطفل أنها جزء من السماء وأصوات الكون

هل أخبرك عن أحلامه قبل أن ينام؟

ماذا كانت؟

هل حلم ان يعيش ويكبر؟

أو ربما أخبرك كطفل اخر أن الأطفال في غزة لا يكبرون؟

لست بحاجة لارتداء نظاراتك، سانتا

تلك السحابة السوداء الظاهرة هناك

المرتفعة من قصف قبل ساعات

قتل تحتها الطفل والأب والام والاخوة

قتل تحتها ألعاب وبيت وشارع

ولائحة غير مستلمة من الأمنيات والأحلام

Basman Aldirawi (also published as Basman Derawi) is a physiotherapist and a graduate of Al-Azhar University in Gaza in 2010. Inspired by an interest in music, movies, and people with special needs, he contributes dozens of stories to the online platform We Are Not Numbers.

Tala Ladki is from Beirut, Lebanon. After graduating with a BA in Media and Communications, she worked in marketing for several years before deciding to switch gears. She’s currently pursuing her MA in Creative Writing in hopes of starting a career in writing and publishing.

New Poetry from & for Gaza: ‘You Don’t Need Your Glasses, Santa’ – ARABLIT & ARABLIT QUARTERLY

[101emo]

What are the rules of Emo?? Written or unwritten.

Music. Music: 101- coming soon ;) Follow the blog x

Bands. Music, it’s all about the music. Emotional songs- just something that makes you feel the feels. Popular or underground, music is the blood of all emos. Try out some emo bands and see which ones you like best.

Sub-genres. Emo has several subgenres, including pop-punk, hyper-pop, hardcore- and more. Explore different kinds of emo music to find which one speaks to you. Or which one gets your head boppin’ :)

TLDR PLZ?... Listen to 'emo' bands. Get familiar with the music.

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Apparel. Apparel: 101- coming soon ;) Follow the blog x

Clothing. Emo fashion often includes a lot of; tight apparel, band shirts, studs, checkerboard print and an accent colour, I typically go with red because its my fave lolz- but all black everything. Clothing is something to blend in yet stand out by.

Makeup. Emo makeup consists of again- all blacks. Heavy eyeliner and mascara, a pale face, the sicker you look, the better. Makeup isn't gendered in the emo world and often expected to be worn by anyone.

TLDR PLZ?... Black black black. Black clothing, makeup, accessories.

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Expression.

Emotion. Emo culture values honesty, vulnerability. Feel your emotions! It’s literally in the name. If you wanna cry, cry. Emos are meant to be sensitive, don’t be scared to be depressed. -

Art. Emos tend to engage in poetry, songwriting, journaling/diary writing or music. Explore different outlets to share your thoughts and emotions.

TLDR PLZ?... Don't be scared to feel. You're emo, not a normie. Try out a form of writing or music to get those angsty feelings out.

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Connect.

Outside. See if you can land some concert or festivals tickets featuring emo bands. upcoming, underground or mainstream. It doesn't matter. Attending events is a great way to meet like-minded individuals and maybe make friends. -

Online. Join some forums, start a social media group. Engage in online activity in the emo scene. Platforms like Reddit and Discord are a good way to connect with others who share your interests. Or follow a blog like this one <3

TLDR PLZ?... Try to get yourself out there. Concerts, online- get into the scene.

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Authenticity.

Be you. While exciting to get versed into a new culture, make sure you’re being authentic to who you are. Again, the emo scene values honesty. Be open and express yourself, don't adapt a new persona that you see fit with the scene.

TLDR PLZ?... Be you <3... just a little edgier.

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History.

Research. Understanding where emo came from and how the culture evolved can deepen your appreciation. Check out my other post for a little history catchup.

TLDR PLZ?... Check this post. catch yourself up on emo history.

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Follow for more x Updates every week, Tuesday and Thursday. 6:30pm GMT +11.