#laura lamb brown lavoie

[soracities]

Laura Lamb Brown-Lavoie, from "On This the 100th Anniversary of the Sinking of the Titanic, We Reconsider the Buoyancy of the Human Heart" [ID'd]

from Alight: Best-Loved Poems from the Women of the World Poetry Slam 2013 poem performed by the author here

[heathened]

laura lamb brown-lavoie, “on this the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the titanic, we reconsider the buoyancy of the human heart”

[happyk44]

[Text ID: The trouble with you humans is that you are so concerned with staying afloat. Go ahead, be gouged open by love. Gulp that saltwater, sink beneath the waves. You're not a boat, you can go under and come up again, with those big old lungs of yours, those hard kicking legs. /end ID]

On This the 100th Anniversary of the Sinking of the Titanic, We Reconsider the Buoyancy of the Human Heart by Laura Lamb Brown-Lavoie

[chryso-poeia]

On This the 100th Anniversary of the Sinking of the Titanic, We Reconsider the Buoyancy of the Human Heart

By Laura Lamb Brown-Lavolie from Alight: Best-Loved Poems from the 2013 Women of the World Poetry Slam.

-

”What’s wrong? Titanic asked me this morning, when she found me lying on the ocean floor with all my suitcases strewn open.

Oh, I dunno, I moaned. I was looking through National Geographic and saw some pictures of you, and thought I might come have a chat. You looked great, by the way, in the pictures.

Me? No. Titanic smiled. If anything I seem to have become a Picasso. And I have a beard.

It was true; she looked more like a collage of a ship. Strangely two-dimensional, in a crater of her own making: French doors, boilers, railings every which way. And she did have a bit of a beard-rust icicles hanging in red strands from her iron engines.

Sitting up in my own little crater, I sort-of blushed.

To be honest, I told Titanic, My honey’s leaving town soon and I’m afraid it’s gonna wreck me, so I dove down here.

Well come on in, Titanic said, but I’m not sure I’ve got what you’re looking for.

So in I climbed, through a window between two rust stalactites, and began to pace her great promenade. (Which should have been awesome, by the way — walking by the ghosts of all those waving handkerchiefs — except that I was in that feeling-sorry-for-yourself state where every hallway is the hallway of your own wretched mind, every ghost your own ghost, so I didn’t take a good look around.)

When I got to the Turkish baths, I sat on the edge of a barnacled tub and watched weird crabs scrabble at my feet.

I was hoping you’d teach me how to sink, I said. You who have spent a century underwater with 1500 skeletons in your chest.

I don’t know, said Titanic, I’m kind of a wreck.

Exactly! I said, Me too! I’m here to apprentice myself to wreckage. I’m here to apprentice myself to you! Great bearded lady, gargantuan ark, you floating hotel. With enough ballrooms in you to dance with everyone I’ve ever loved.

My heart has an iceberg with its name on it, I told Titanic, so I need your advice. Tell me, did you see the iceberg coming?

I did, Titanic said.

And you sailed right into it?

It was love, Titanic said.

And the band just kept playing? And the captain stayed at the wheel? What did it feel like to swallow seawater? Tell me, Titanic, how did it feel?

It felt like a hole in my side and then it felt like plummeting face first into the ice-cold ocean.

She’s a straight talker, the Titanic.

Alright, I said. Now let’s talk about rust. When my love leaves, I’m planning to weep stalactites from my chin. I will wear my sadness in long strands. Like you, I will be bearded by it.

Then I made a terrible noise. Eeeeeeeeeeeerkkkkkkkkkk! I’ve been practicing the sound of wrenching metal, I told her, from when my love leaves.

But you aren’t made of metal. Titanic said to me.

I’m a writer, I said, I can be made of anything.

Well then, be a writer. She said.

Be a writer? I paused, anemones between my toes. Okay. When my love leaves. I will start with SOS. I will Morse code odes as the whole world goes vertical. I will write nosedives as my torso splits in two.

And the next day I will write the stunned headlines, and the next day I will write the obituaries, and the next day I will write furious accusations, and the next day I will write lawsuits, and the next day I will write confessions of wrongdoing, and the next day I will write pardons, but I won’t really mean it, and the next day I will write sonnets, but they won’t fit the schema, and the next day I will write pleas, please, please come back. The next day I will write epitaphs, navigation maps, warnings for future generations about the hubris of human love. I will write quotas and queries and quizzes, I will write nonsense, I will write nonsense, I will write nonsense all the way down and no diving teams will find me, no robot arms will retrieve me in pieces, never will I be reassembled in plain air. No, I will remain whole, two miles down, with my suitcases strewn open, and in 100 years I will still be writing about this feeling, though my heart be a Picasso, though my heart be bearded at the bottom of the sea.

The Titanic let me cry for a while, my sobs echoing off her moldy mosaics.

Then she said: Girl, you’re too young for a beard like this. You’re never gonna get some if you rust over now.

I sniffled a little and scratched my name into the green slime of the tub.

The trouble with you humans is that you are so concerned with staying afloat. Go ahead, be gouged open by love. Gulp that saltwater, sink beneath the waves. You’re not a boat, you can go under and come up again, with those big old lungs of yours, those hard kicking legs.

And your heart, she said, that gargantuan ark, that floating hotel. Call it Unsinkable, though it is sinkable. Embark, embark.

There are enough ballrooms in you to dance with everyone you’ll ever love.

That’s what the Titanic told me this morning, me, lying next to her on the ocean floor.

There are enough ballrooms in you.”

[slverjohn]

Gulp that saltwater, sink beneath the waves. - Laura Lamb Brown Lavoie

[genisflyingkites]

one sided heartbreak

my art based off flowers grow out of my grave//On This the 100th Anniversary of the Sinking of the Titanic, We Reconsider the Buoyancy of the Human Heart by Laura Lamb Brown-Lavoie//I Know its Over the Smiths//Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe//Cold Solace by Anna Belle Kaufman// Louis Undercover

[crushedsweets]

do ben and sally have a friendship in your au?

yesyesyes!!!

its more of a mutual understanding than a "LETS HANG OUT" friendship. they were both kids taken advantage of and killed by someone they either trusted or looked up to, and now that they're the only ghosts stuck in a line of ungrateful reckless humans and demons, they genuinely feel like only the other two get it.

they just can't mature beyond their years (14 and 9), but they've also had 30-60 years to just sit and stew in everything. they fucking LONG for life, they really do. ben puts up a facade much more than sally, but it aches

they remind me of this quote from Laura Lamb Brown-Lavoie!!!

[shouyuus]

Tobio asks you for a poem recommendation because he wants a tattoo symbolizing your relationship, what do you pick?

this was a hard one if only bc i personally wouldn't tattoo actual words (except for names!) onto myself, but if it had to be a line from a poem or a poem as inspiration, probably "on this the 100th anniversary of the titanic we consider the buoyancy of the human heart" by laura lamb brown-lavoie

and yes, that is the entire title of the poem lmao, and here's a video of one of my favorite poets of all time (sarah kay) doing a reading of it

the specific line would be:

there are enough ballrooms in you to dance with everyone you'll ever love

because we've both known the depths of despair, and i think we've both wished to be on the bottom of the ocean floor, and what a lesson in catastrophe it is to experience it, but what a lesson, also, in the resilience of the human heart to be able to eventually get back up and keep on moving? and i know it seems strange to have a poem about heartbreak be ostensibly the one that symbolizes our relationship, but i think that it just means we'll be all the stronger for it.

we both know the fragility and foolhardiness of the human heart, and that knowledge will keep us together during the hard times (bc there are and will be hard times). bc knowing that you'll come out alive is half the battle already.

[wenchofthescullery]

Incandescent.

[deadpoetsmusings]

—except that I was in that feeling-sorry for-yourself state where every hallway is the hallway of your own wretched mind, every ghost your own ghost, so I didn’t take a good look around.

Laura Lamb Brown-Lavoie, On This the 100th Anniversary of the Sinking of the Titanic, We Reconsider the Buoyancy of the Human Heart

[nooksickle]

On This the 100th Anniversary of the Sinking of the Titanic, We Reconsider the Buoyancy of the Human Heart

What’s wrong? The Titanic asked me this morning, when she found me lying on the ocean floor with all my suitcases strewn open.

Oh, I dunno, I moaned. I was looking through National Geographic and saw some pictures of you, and thought I might come have a chat. You looked great, by the way, in the pictures.

Me? No. Titanic smiled. If anything I seem to have become a Picasso. And I have a beard.

It was true; she looked more like a collage of a ship. Strangely two-dimensional, in a crater of her own making: French doors, boilers, railings every which way. And she did have a bit of a beard ¬─rust icicles hanging in red strands from her iron engines.

Sitting up in my own little crater, I sort-of blushed.

To be honest, I told Titanic, My honey’s leaving town soon and I’m afraid it’s gonna wreck me, so I dove down here.

Well come on in, Titanic said, but I’m not sure I’ve got what you’re looking for.

So in I climbed, through a window between two rust stalactites, and began to pace her great promenade. (Which should have been awesome, by the way—walking by the ghosts of all those waving handkerchiefs—except that I was in that feeling-feeling-sorry for-yourself state where every hallway is the hallway of your own wretched mind, every ghost your own ghost, so I didn’t take a good look around.)

When I got to the Turkish baths, I sat on the edge of a barnacled tub and watched weird crabs scrabble at my feet.

I was hoping you’d teach me how to sink, I said. You who have spent a century underwater with 1500 skeletons in your chest.

I don’t know, said Titanic, I’m kind-of a wreck.

Exactly! I said, Me, too! I’m here to apprentice myself to wreckage. I’m here to apprentice myself to you! Great bearded lady, gargantuan ark, you floating hotel. With enough ballrooms in you to dance with everyone I’ve ever loved.

My heart has an iceberg with its name on it, I told Titanic, so I need your advice. Tell me, did you see the iceberg coming?

I did, Titanic said.

And you sailed right into it?

It was love, Titanic said.

And the band just kept playing? And the captain stayed at the wheel? What did it feel like to swallow seawater? Tell me, Titanic, how did it feel?

It felt like a hole in my side and then it felt like plummeting face first into the ice-cold ocean.

She’s a straight talker, the Titanic.

Alright, I said. Now let’s talk about rust. When my love leaves, I’m planning to weep stalactites from my chin. I will wear my sadness in long strands. Like you, I will Be bearded by it.

Then I made a terrible noise. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk! I’ve been practices the sound of wrenching metal, I told her, for when my love leaves.

But you aren’t made of metal. Titanic said to me.

I’m a writer, I said, I can be made of anything.

Well then, be a writer. She said.

Be a writer? I paused, anemones between my toes. Okay. When my love leaves. I will start with SOS. I will Morse code odes as the whole world goes vertical. I will write nosedives as my torso splits in two.

And the next day I will write the stunned headlines, and the next day I will write the obituaries, and the next day I will write furious accusations, and the next day I will write lawsuits, and the next day I will write confessions of wrongdoing, and the next day I will write pardons, but I won’t really mean it, and the next day I will write sonnets, but they won’t fit the schema, and the next day I will write pleas, please, please come back. The next day I will write epitaphs, navigation maps, warnings for future generations about the hubris of human love. I will write quotas and queries and quizzes, I will write nonsense, I will write nonsense, I will write nonsense all the way down and no diving teams will find me, no robot arms will retrieve me in pieces, never will I be reassembled in plain air. No, I will remain while, two miles down, with my suitcases strewn open, and in 100 years I will be writing about this feeling, though my heart be a Picasso, though my heart be bearded at the bottom of the sea.

The Titanic let me cry for a while, my sobs echoing off her moldy mosaics.

Then she said: Girl, you’re too young for a beard like this. You’re never gonna get some if you rust over now.

I sniffled a little and scratched my name into the green slime of the tub.

The trouble with you humans is that you are so concerned with staying afloat. Go ahead, be gouged open by love. Gulp that saltwater, sink beneath the waves. You’re not a boat, you can go under and come up again, with those big old lungs of yours, those hard kicking legs.

And your heart, she said, that gargantuan ark, that floating hotel. Call it Unsinkable, though it is sinkable. Embark, embark.

There are enough ballrooms in you to dance with everyone you’ll ever love.

That’s what the Titanic told me this morning, me, lying next to her on the ocean floor.

There are enough ballrooms in you. - by Laura Lamb Brown-Lavoie

[ljf613]

And your heart, she said, that gargantuan ark, that floating hotel. Call it Unsinkable, though it is sinkable. Embark, embark.

Sarah Kay reads Laura Lamb Brown-Lavoie’s poem, “On This the 100th Anniversary of the Sinking of the Titanic, We Reconsider the Buoyancy of the Human Heart”

[antisisyphus]

On This the 100th Anniversary of the Sinking of the Titanic, We Reconsider the Buoyancy of the Human Heart by Laura Lamb Brown-Lavoie

Jessica gives me a chill pill by Angie Sijun Lou

[terrainofheartfelt]

Serena VDW, A Moodboard

Don't let people tell you who you are. You tell them.

Sources: (x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

[callowaycobalts]

What’s wrong? The Titanic asked me this morning, when she found me lying on the ocean floor with all my suitcases strewn open. Oh, I dunno, I moaned. I was looking through National Geographic and saw some pictures of you, and thought I might come have a chat. You looked great, by the way, in the pictures. Me? No. Titanic smiled. If anything I seem to have become a Picasso. And I have a beard. It was true; she looked more like a collage of a ship. Strangely two-dimensional, in a crater of her own making: French doors, boilers, railings every which way. And she did have a bit of a beard ─rust icicles hanging in red strands from her iron engines. Sitting up in my own little crater, I sort-of blushed. To be honest, I told Titanic, My honey’s leaving town soon and I’m afraid it’s gonna wreck me, so I dove down here. Well come on in, Titanic said, but I’m not sure I’ve got what you’re looking for. So in I climbed, through a window between two rust stalactites, and began to pace her great promenade. (Which should have been awesome, by the way—walking by the ghosts of all those waving handkerchiefs—except that I was in that feeling-feeling-sorry for-yourself state where every hallway is the hallway of your own wretched mind, every ghost your own ghost, so I didn’t take a good look around.) When I got to the Turkish baths, I sat on the edge of a barnacled tub and watched weird crabs scrabble at my feet. I was hoping you’d teach me how to sink, I said. You who have spent a century underwater with 1500 skeletons in your chest. I don’t know, said Titanic, I’m kind-of a wreck. Exactly! I said, Me, too! I’m here to apprentice myself to wreckage. I’m here to apprentice myself to you! Great bearded lady, gargantuan ark, you floating hotel. With enough ballrooms in you to dance with everyone I’ve ever loved. My heart has an iceberg with its name on it, I told Titanic, so I need your advice. Tell me, did you see the iceberg coming? I did, Titanic said. And you sailed right into it? It was love, Titanic said. And the band just kept playing? And the captain stayed at the wheel? What did it feel like to swallow seawater? Tell me, Titanic, how did it feel? It felt like a hole in my side and then it felt like plummeting face first into the ice-cold ocean. She’s a straight talker, the Titanic. Alright, I said. Now let’s talk about rust. When my love leaves, I’m planning to weep stalactites from my chin. I will wear my sadness in long strands. Like you, I will Be bearded by it. Then I made a terrible noise. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk! I’ve been practices the sound of wrenching metal, I told her, for when my love leaves. But you aren’t made of metal. Titanic said to me. I’m a writer, I said, I can be made of anything. Well then, be a writer. She said. Be a writer? I paused, anemones between my toes. Okay. When my love leaves. I will start with SOS. I will Morse code odes as the whole world goes vertical. I will write nosedives as my torso splits in two. And the next day I will write the stunned headlines, and the next day I will write the obituaries, and the next day I will write furious accusations, and the next day I will write lawsuits, and the next day I will write confessions of wrongdoing, and the next day I will write pardons, but I won’t really mean it, and the next day I will write sonnets, but they won’t fit the schema, and the next day I will write pleas, please, please come back. The next day I will write epitaphs, navigation maps, warnings for future generations about the hubris of human love. I will write quotas and queries and quizzes, I will write nonsense, I will write nonsense, I will write nonsense all the way down and no diving teams will find me, no robot arms will retrieve me in pieces, never will I be reassembled in plain air. No, I will remain while, two miles down, with my suitcases strewn open, and in 100 years I will be writing about this feeling, though my heart be a Picasso, though my heart be bearded at the bottom of the sea. The Titanic let me cry for a while, my sobs echoing off her moldy mosaics. Then she said: Girl, you’re too young for a beard like this. You’re never gonna get some if you rust over now. I sniffled a little and scratched my name into the green slime of the tub. The trouble with you humans is that you are so concerned with staying afloat. Go ahead, be gouged open by love. Gulp that saltwater, sink beneath the waves. You’re not a boat, you can go under and come up again, with those big old lungs of yours, those hard kicking legs. And your heart, she said, that gargantuan ark, that floating hotel. Call it Unsinkable, though it is sinkable. Embark, embark. There are enough ballrooms in you to dance with everyone you’ll ever love. That’s what the Titanic told me this morning, me, lying next to her on the ocean floor. There are enough ballrooms in you.

On This the 100th Anniversary of the Sinking of the Titanic, We Reconsider the Buoyancy of the Human Heart by Laura Lamb Brown-Lavoie

[junewild]

excerpts from the most important poem i have ever read. you can find it here.