#piercied girl

[ofthecaravel]

Girls Helping Girls 💕💜💙

[chimindity]

I'm a drug dealer, not a piercer

Summary | reader getting a belly piercing by Barry.

Pairing | Barry x Rafe's sister!reader

Warning | needle and piercing, no smut and nothing too triggerable I guess, Rafe shows up at the end!!

A/N | I kinda love it! I apologize if there's any mistake once again

✦ ⎯⎯ㅤִㅤ୭ ୨♡୧ ৎㅤִ ⎯⎯ ✦

Whenever you hang out at Barry with Rafe, your older brother.

you always get amazed by Barry's diamond earring, wondering if he piercied himself or not, you always wanted to get your belly piercied but Rafe keeps telling you to not do it cause it's useless and would be too painful for you.

So this is what got you there, standing infront Barry's front door,

-"goddamn it, Rafe I told you I was gonna be bu-" he was in the middle of talking when he opens the door and sight you wearing a white tank top, a light pink shorts, your hair styled with two braids, not expecting you at all to show up at his, especially on his day off.

-"what got you here, cutie? And where did your bro go?" He smirks as he leads you inside his trailer.

You look back at him closing the door, as you get nervous and start fidgeting with your hands.

-"s'just came here to uh ask you a favor" you say nervously, you never heard Barry talk about being a piercer or whatever despite the fact that he's a drug dealer.

He sits down on the couch not taking his eyes off you.

-"go ahead tell me, I ain't going to bite you, come here sweetheart" he smiles at you gesturing with his hand for you to sit next to him.

-"i want to get my belly pierced" you say nervously looking at him to find any signs of approval or whatever, but he would have never guessed this kind of question, so when he heard those words leave your mouth.

-"uhm, listen, I'm not your brother or even your dad 'kay? Does Rafe even know you're here?" He sits up on the couch while you start getting upset at his reaction.

-"no, and he doesn't even need to know, please come on! I swear I'll do everything you ask me to after that."

You place both of your hands on his knees looking up at him, giving your best puppy eyes, as you start pleading he looks away from you, gently moving your face away.

-"there's no way, if ever your brother find out, i'll be death the seconds he walk through that damn door" he huffs finally glancing back at you.

-"m'sorry kiddo" he says lifting up your chin to keep you still from squirming, you are almost all over him at this point, not even noticing you're straddling his lap.

-"i'll hide it! And i promise you he'll never found out" you speak in a flirty tone hoping it would make him change his mind.

Then you hear him sigh and roll his eyes,

-"a'right fine, fine I'll do it but no words to him y'hear me?" He points his finger at you as a warning, you simply nodd at him while smiling.

-"s'good now lay down on that couch" he stands up and grab a small silver box, your eyes widen at the thought he could be a piercer.

-"are you a piercer?" You ask obliviously as you watch him pull out a sterile needle, and a cute jewerly.

-"no, just something i've bought incase I wanted to get myself another piercing now please lay down" he sighs again picking a small wipe to disinfect the area of your belly.

You raise your head up laying down on your elbows, you look at him suddenly a question pops in your mind.

-"uh, you're not wearing any gloves?" You catch him off guard, a confusing look forms on his face.

-"Y/n I'm not a piercer, i'm simply a drug dealer why the hell would I need gloves for?" He's starting to get frustrated with your questions and your impatience, you nodd at him pouting and stop talking for a while.

Until he is the one breaking the silence, holding the needle in his hand you suddenly start regretting your choice.

-"i'ma need you to take a deep breath like a big girl, can you do that for me?" He speaks in a soft tone stroking your thigh, as he notices your body tenses up.

-"uhm yes I can.." you say quietly reaching your hand to his, wanting to feel any sign of comfort.

-"please can I hold your hand?" You mumble feeling the need to squeeze his hand incase it hurts too much, he looks at you and his smirk grows wider.

-"i can't sweetie, i'll have to use both of my hands but here squeeze my thigh if needed" he sits closer to you and you immeditaly place your hand on his lap.

-"kay, ready? 1,2.." he exclaims, you wait for 3 to come, but instead a stinging pain is felt in your navel, you squeeze your hand on his lap as you close your eyes in pain.

-"Fuck you!" You whimper in pain, feeling his left hand quickly strikes your thigh, -"s'all good you good, we're almost done cutie" he tries to comfort you, while trying to stay focus but you couldn't stop squirming.

-"shit hey stop doing that" he huffs holding firmly your hips down, keeping your body still.

"s'feel weird and hurt" you whine, your hands make their way to your belly wanting to touch the piercing.

-"shh pull your hands away princess, you're the one who wanted this" he clips the jewerly and take the bottle of disinfectant and spray on your piercing.

-"how is it?" You manage to say still being a bit dizzy from the pain, he pats your lap then looks at you.

-"looks very pretty, here take a look" standing up from the couch he helps you sitting up, your eyes widen of happiness when you sight the pink jewerly.

-"ooh Barry!! This is exactly what I wanted" you exclaim getting up from the couch and throwing your arms over his shoulders, leaving him kisses on his cheek.

-"hey hey alright calm down, be careful! Your piercing is not healed yet" he huffs, even though he is speaking to you in that tone you know that he loves when you give him attention, but each time he has to pull you away to not lose his dignity.

He pulls you back down on your feet ruffling your hair, -"no problem kiddo, but remember do not let Rafe find out about-"

Barry was cut off when a bang on the door has been heard, you both turn to look, facing Rafe.

-"jeez, Y/n! I've been looking for you all day!" Rafe throw his hands in the air, giving Barry a confusing look.

-"what the hell are you doing here anyway?" He says lifting you up in his arms, nodding at Barry.

-"a'right, thanks I guess for babysitting here dude" Rafe smirks sarcastically as Barry is about to closes the door behind the two of you, and says,

-"any time country club your sister is the nicest girl in town" Rafe rolls his eyes and look at you, -"damn I don't want to know what you two did" he huffs making you smile.

-"you really don't want to know Rafey" you mumble starting drifting off on his shoulder as he carries you home

Taglist

@nemesyaaa @sadfury @starkeysprincess

[remnantglow]

hey! so i just finished i, robot as part of my crunch to finish my reading goal by the end of the year. ive loved fiction about robots and synthetic consciousness for a long time, so i was aware of it and the foundation books, but hadn’t actually read it before. i had… a wildly ambivalent time! i was wondering if you had any essays/collections/books/scholarship you would recommend responding to it? im still formulating my thoughts and would love to get other perspectives (including your own, if you want to say anything about it!)

uhhh yknow, funnily enough, for how influential "I, robot" was, i cannot think of anything i've read that's directly in conversation with it, at least not any more than the average scifi robot story is by default. I mean, i think with how strongly the three laws of robotics took hold in popculture any story about robots "defying programming" - which often gets tied to their gaining sentience - can probably be traced back to asimov's robots (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep/Blade Runner, Ex Machina & Westworld are some more notable examples here, i think). that's all i got though, sorry!

(i can also mention a couple books i haven't gotten around to yet that might be of interest here: When HARLIE Was One by David Gerrold; He, She, and It by Marge Piercy; Virtual Girl by Amy Thomson; Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente; Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky)

also, i personally loved I, Robot! but that's mostly because i really adore a story that revolves around a strict set of rules and finding the exploitable flaws and loopholes in those rules. and that's basically what most of the stories in I, Robot are about lol

[kiki-de-la-petite-flaque]

Cats like Angels Cats like angels are supposed to be thin; pigs like cherubs are supposed to be fat. People are mostly in between, a knob of bone sticking out in the knee you might like to pad, a dollop of flab hanging over the belt. You punish yourself, one of those rubber balls kids have that come bouncing back off their own paddles, rebounding on the same slab. You want to be slender and seamless as a bolt. When I was a girl I loved spiny men with ascetic grimaces all elbows and words and cartilage ribbed like cast up fog-grey hulls, faces to cut the eyes blind on the glittering blade, chins of Aegean prows bent on piracy. Now I look for men whose easy bellies show a love for the flesh and the table, men who will come in the kitchen and sit, who don't think peeling potatoes makes their penis shrink; men with broad fingers and purple figgy balls, men with rumpled furrows and the slightly messed look at ease of beds recently well used. We are not all supposed to look like undernourished fourteen year old boys, no matter what the fashions ordain. You are built to pull a cart, to lift a heavy load and bear it, to haul up the long slope, and so am I, peasant bodies, earthy, solid shapely dark glazed clay pots that can stand on the fire. When we put our bellies together we do not clatter but bounce on the good upholstery.

Marge Piercy

[obscurecharactershowdown]

Group F Round 1

[image ID: the first image is of the book cover of The Enchancted Island of Yew by L. Frank Baum. the color of the cover is gray, and it depicts a woman with dark hair, in an updo, and large flowers on the side of her head. she's wearing a pinkish, sleeveless dress with her right leg completely exposed, the material also reminiscent of flower petals. the cloth of her dress is raising with her up-stretched arms to frame the title. she's standing in a white flower, and her feet are bear, but around her right ankle is a piece of the same material of her dress. she's holding a long, black stick, like a fairy wand, that emits a glowing yellow light on the end. the second image is the book cover of He, She, & It by Marge Piercy. it depicts a woman with loose, dark hair, her collarbones and shoulders bare, against a yellow sky and rolling fields. there is lightning striking in the sky. end ID]

The High Ki of Twi

it’s never really made clear whether they’re a single person that operates two bodies in perfect synchronity or two different people with two different consciousnesses that share a mental link so deep they always act the exact same and to be honest i’m not sure which is worse. primary ruler over a country (twi) entirely composed of doubles like them. also on that note “ki” is a title that denotes a ruler (as seen in the secondary rulers, the ki and the ki-ki) and it’s not said whether or not they have an actual name. they were once separated physically and mentally due to a magic spell gone awry (and managed to cause a whole civil war before they got it fixed a few days later) and boy if that didn’t fuck with my head the first time i read it. the author is pretty fond of fucking with identity like that. this one wasn’t even because of dismemberment like they usually are. also worth noting that they are by all means a girl and only use they/them pronouns because they’re like. two girls actually. it’s all very confusing

Malkah

Malkah is a brilliant scientist -- she codes the AI for a cyborg golem to protect her small town from dystopian threats both physical and virtual. She parents a daughter, a granddaughter (our main character), at least one cyborg, and at least one cat. She is a well respected member of her ecosocialist community, though she is seen as a bit odd. She at one point describes her granddaughter as "disappointingly heterosexual," and herself has multiple relationships with people of varying genders while presenting as variously a man or woman depending on the relationship.

[bepisbee]

V10l37

Soo I never posted it here cuz im dumb hahaaaa but heres the first chapter of actual robot vidow au :3

Read on ao3

Chapters Index Next Chapter

Up upon the wall in a large lab room a humanoid figure dangled. Eerily still. Their blonde artificial hair sat braided down half way down their back. It looked realistic to the naked eye, felt soft like it to the touch. The dramatic lighting in the room followed the wires everywhere around them. The walls were a dark gray metal of some kind, welded together, a plaque by the only door saying “Technical Testing room 34: subject #4” implying other rooms and subjects.

Their eyes were  piercing ice blue optics; nearly identical to that of a living being. Aside from the small lines of electronics and wires inside of them. So tiny it would take the perfect lighting to see them behind the iris. Artificial blinking not yet active, those eyes stared at one space.

No input being received as of yet. They were plugged into multiple wires everywhere on the metallic body. Wires coming from above and below connected to them. Slowly as power surged through the wires on the bottom a coating formed around the metallic surface of the humanoid.

In smooth motion, what appeared to be skin formed over on them. All across the surface. Perfect, unblemished and fake. Across the room a technician in a white lab coat snorted. “Fuckin’ looks like a magical girl transformation.” His coworker laughed along with him. None of them noticed as the android, now perfectly indifferent to a Hylian, blinked and looked up over at the group. They had returned back to position before they had a chance to look up.

The wires on the ceiling disconnected, dropping the body to the floor loudly. They landed on their knees, in a kneeling position. Head weighed down without support. “Well? What are ya waitin’ for? Turn it on!” the same man spoke. His voice was deep and gruff. One of the others in a blue colored coat went to a table displaying an array of glowing buttons, knobs, and sliders. She pressed a few things on the affectionately nicknamed “DJ board” control unit.

The androids eyes lit up from the back, circling around once. A soft hum of electronics and fans filled the silence of a room held with baited breath. It looked up at them. “...” They looked back.

“It appears my systems are functioning at normal capacity.” A soft deep voice came from the machine. It’s lips and fake tongue mouthing the words. A technological breakthrough in voice box mechanics. “Artificial form code confirmation: V, one, zero, L, three, seven.” They spoke with clear diction, dead panned emotion. “C-confirmed.” the girl in the blue robe stammered out from the stunned silence. “We did it!” she looked at the man in the white coat. She grabbed his arms and started shaking him back and forth violently. “WE DID IT!” The ear splitting grin crossed their faces and they looked back at the AI.

They tilted their head curiously at them. The pair ran over to the android and began running physical diagnoses on them.

This was only the beginning One year later A boy with stark purple hair in a black lab coat walked around the large lab facility. His arms bent and hands behind his head like he had no care in the world. He was in front of a small entourage. The man from the lab, with the white coat, a different assistant, and the android behind him. “I don’t care what you’re doing Daphnes.” The purple one announced, clearly annoyed. “I am not interested in this stupid machine of yours. All the others failed, why wouldn’t this one?” the android’s eyes followed his every movement. Almost creepily.

“Shadow! You will treat your father with respect!” Daphnes scolded. “You cannot keep expecting to get away with things just because you understand a neural net processor.” He sighed, sounding old and tired. This was obviously a conversation they have had often. “Yeah okay.” he dismissed. Shadow turned to face the group, looking the AI up and down warily. Shadow had many piercings in his face. Alongside adorable freckles to try to look tougher. Two eyebrow piercings on his right, snake bite rings on his lower lips, a small septum ring in his nose, a bar between his eyes on his cartilage, and an array all across his large long ears. The android took a slight misstep analyzing his face. He had heterochromatic eyes. One a brilliant ruby red and the other the deepest blue they’d ever seen. Not that they had really seen a lot  of things yet, but it still stands.

They hadn’t noticed that of course.

“Look, I just want you on this project. You would be best suited for the small details required for maintenance and upgrades.”

“I don’t see how any of this wou-” he was interrupted by a panicked scream above them. The android was already moving. It all happened so fast Shadow basically passed out for a minute. A large ground shaking thud surrounded landed in front of them.

Exactly where Shadow had been standing.

“Oh my Gods!!!” The assistant yelled and stepped back, in human reaction time. Shadow gasped softly and stiffened. Unsure what had just happened. He was being enveloped by arms. He looked up to see the android with a concerned expression, eyebrows furrowed. That in of itself confused the hell out of him.

“Are. Are you alright?” they spoke, focusing only on him. The two technicians stood gaping at them. None of their actions should have been physically possible. Not a single program in their systems should be allowing any of the motions. From grabbing Shadow out of the way of the large hunk of metal with broken chain straps, to asking personally if he was okay. That wasn’t in their designated dialogue.

He just stared, the beautiful orbs wrapped in a thick black eyeliner. Shock, and disbelief. “Whuh- we- I….” the arms wrapped around his frame were a bit cold to the touch. “Yes.”

They let go and Shadow took a moment to step back away. Looking between Daphnes and the AI, he let out a breath. “I… I’ll work on it. I guess.” he looked away. “What’s it’s name anyways?” “I am V, one, zero, L, three, seven.” they answered for the technician.

“Wow. That’s long and artificially cold.” Shadow bluntly stated. He wrote something down on a small notepad from his pocket “Wait…. Huh! Oh it kind of looks like… Violet. I’m gonna call it Violet.”

“Son- that's not--” “Professional attachment blah blah blah. Do you want me or not?” he didn’t wait for the confirmation before taking Violet’s hand in his own. “Come on then. Let’s get out of here before more flying death metal bricks decide to fall from the sky.”

“I do not believe that the metal had any intention of-” they let Shadow pull them in the direction of his lab room. “Falling from the chains. Nevertheless I agree it is a good idea to vacate the area should another incident occur before-” Shadow looked at him confused and fondly at the rambling. “The correct items are inspected for faults.” they finished. “I-” they stopped and shook their head. “It would be unfortunate if anyone got hurt.”

Daphnes stood mouth gaping at the conversation. A literally impossible conversation.

“Boy you sure talk a lot huh?” Shadow laughed once. “Oh. No. Not usually. I mean this is quite new. I am not entirely sure what is actually happening right now. As a matter of fact I really don’t think this is part of my programming. I cannot seem to locate an error in my systems however.”

“Mmmmmmhm.” Shadow led them to his personal lab. He let them in. “Oh. You really should not have drinks by your electronics it could-” “Spill and ruin yeah yeah I know.” he cut them off. “I don’t need a lecture from a tin can.” “T-Tin can!?” they sounded offended. They sounded. In a tone.

“...” Shadow looked at them with a new sparkle in his eyes. “I think maybe this will work out after all. Sit down,  Violet .”

[eddiesghxst]

FIRST OF ALL: EDDIE COCK PIERCIED MUNSON? 

I was NOT ready for it, that's for sure

“Just the first few songs. Please?” what's soo import about the first few songs uh? 😏 NO BUT FR TELL ME 🤨

"Eddie doesn’t notice his hand slipping from your thigh and slinking up to wrap around your neck, but he hesitates when you whimper. He almost removes his hand, but you wrap a shaky hand around his wrist and nod" when they are kinky together ❤️

"and fuck, Eddie will never be the same man after this." I'M GLAD HE KNOWS 👹

Are u telling me he didn't spent the night with reader after all that? That's some rat boi behavior...

Also, James was so gentle with her it's adorable he's effortlessly comprehensive and we stan him for that :(( i hope I don't regret saying this, bc wtf was that Rich thing first thing in the morning? I smell SNITCHES!

Anyways, amazing amazing chapter as always hon 🫶🏻 already looking forward for next part!!!🤭

eddie: pls stay for the show

reader: WHAT WAS THAT ???👂U SAID GO FUCK JAMES ?!?👂OKAY !!👍

ALSO DUHH, YES OFC EDDIE HAS A PIERCED D!CK I JUST FELT IT WAS MANDATORY HEHE

YEAHHHH OFC THERE HAD TO BE A LITTLE CHOKING ACTION TOO🤭 and duhh eddie got pussy whipped. at the end of the day guys, 🎶eddie’s just a man, it’s just what he’ll doooo🎶

LOL YEAH EDDIE DID THE HIT AND DASH SORRY

and yes we stan james, rip james nation we had a strong run fr✊💯 may he find the baddest bitch in his horizons!

AND I WONT SAY TOO MUCH ABT THE NEXT PART BUT I THINK THE GIRLS WILL EITHER ABSOLUTELY HATE MY GUTS OR LUV ME IDKKKKKK

IM SO GLAD U LIKED IT STINK THANK U FOR READING AND SHARING🤭😚🤍

[laurelwen]

15 Questions, 15 People

I was tagged by @nightmares-and-fascinations, which....I'm game, though I suspect I have nothing particularly fascinating to say here.

Nickname: Tisper

Sign: Aries

Height: 5'4"

Last Thing I Googled: "dark moody violin pieces"

Song Stuck in my head: Howl - Florence and the Machine alternating with Persephone - Tamino

Number of followers: hahahaha, I just broke a hundred?

Amount of sleep: approximately 6 hrs

Dream Job: I do not dream of labor.

Wearing: pajama pants covered in cats wearing hipser glasses and sweaters and a random ratty t shirt. WFH today, obvsly

Movies/Books that summarise you: The Lord of the Rings, Anne of Green Gables, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, I <3 Huckabees, Moulin Rouge, Promethea, Interview with the Vampire, The Mists of Avalon, Star Wars.

Favourite Song: Impossible to pick one, it depends on my mood and current hyperfixation. In the past 3 months, it's been "Salvation" by Scanners.

Favourite Instrument: Piano.

Aesthetic: In theory---Stevie Nicks and Jane Austen go to a classic lolita meetup in 1913, fall in love, and create a magical girl child who grows up to be the village witch, who is then immortalized in a series of seasonal lithographs by Alphonse Mucha. (If you want to see what the hell this means.) But then also add in a splash of Goth/Strega. Not that I get to dress like this IRL.

Favourite Authors: J.R.R. Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, Emily Dickinson, Margaret Atwood, Marge Piercy, Robert Jordan, Stephen King, Ernest Hemingway, Keats, Shelley, Byron, Diane Seuss, Alan Moore, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, Rumi, Anne Rice, Oscar Wilde, and so many more.

Random Fun Fact: My eyes were blue until I was 8 years old, when they slowly shifted to green.

@iamgalicia if you want to do it. Anyone else really. I feel weird just calling people out.

[takemeback2kentucky]

Me books this last year

Autobiography of Red - Anne Carson

Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote

The Complete Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name - Audre Lorde

The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides

Whipping Girl - Julia Serano

The Postman Always Rings Twice - James M Cain

Gleem and Hot Summer Nights - Freddy Carrasco

Indoor Voice

Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner

McSweenys vol 67

Stages of Rot - Linnea Sterte

The Trouble With Happiness and Other Stories - Tove Ditlevsen

The Desert Oracle - Ken Layne

The Lonely City - Olivia Laing

Liar and Spy - Rebecca Stead

Woman on the Edge of Time - Marge Piercy

Delta of Venus - Anais Nin

Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan Didion

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K Dick

[finishinglinepress]

NEW FROM FINISHING LINE PRESS: Midwest Musings by Heather D. Frankland

On SALE now! Pre-order Price Guarantee: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/midwest-musings-by-heather-d-frankland/

RESERVE YOUR COPY TODAY

Midwest Musings is about the inspiration and the confusion of #home, the roots that anchor, and the scattered thoughts on place and identity that escape definition. The #poems in this #chapbook find magic in the mundane, whether that be in recounting an old story or loving a creek or saving a luna moth. In the end, the poems come to a realization that no matter where you move, the regional roots of home run deep. They run so deep that they tangle in the soil of the self.

Originally from Muncie, Indiana, Heather Frankland currently lives in Silver City, NM where she teaches at Western New Mexico University. She holds both a MPH and an MFA from New Mexico State University and a BA from Knox College. She served in the Peace Corps and Peace Corps Response Volunteer in Peru and Panama. Heather finds herself intrigued by landscapes and the role they can play in language, story, and poetry. She has been published in ROAR, Plane Tree Journal, Sin Fronteras Press, Sweet Lit, Slippery Elm Literary Journal, and others.

PRAISE FOR Midwest Musings by Heather D. Frankland

As fearlessly self-examining as Heather Frankland’s poems are, they are also elusively stoic and emboldened to hold intimate knowledge of the world–and her relations with others–sacred. Through her exploration of opposing desires to wild or to tame, to teach or to unlearn, to hide or to draw out, to welcome or to warn, to love or to withhold love, or to thirst or to deluge, these dazzling contradictions have been deftly honed into tantalizing poem-secrets.

–Richard Greenfield, author of Subterranean.

“I will drench you awake,” Heather Frankland promises, and she does with poems of place and nature that also track the wildness, settled-ness, and sometime wilderness of girlhood and womanhood. From poems to her grandmother that celebrate grit and silence to poems that trace the subversive power of herself as a young woman, Frankland’s poems manage the rare trick of balancing love and family with the tougher territories of alienation and grief in a way that feels earned, authentic, and surprising. “But I am a girl hiding in the field/I am creating a. map of the best places to hide,” she tells us, and we believe her. This is a book to hold in your heart.

–Sheila Black, author of Radium Dream.

Frankland’s unique voice brings the ordinary alive. Her keen observations are revealing and honest.

–Elise Stuart, author of My Mother and I, We Talk Cat, and Poet Laureate Emerita of Silver City and Grant County.

Heather Frankland writes thoughtful poems that exhibit a strong sense of place and an equally strong compassion for people alive and dead, animals, even a moth and a creek. She examines herself with an equally keen eye, her feelings, her attachments, her mistakes, her pretensions. These are non pretentious poems that seek wisdom and often find it.

–Marge Piercy author of 20 poetry books, most recently On the Way Out, Turn Off the Light, 17 novels, short stories, and 5 nonfiction books.

Please share/repost #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #read #poems #literature #poetry #home #chapbook

[doitinanotherlanguage]

May 2023 Wrap-up: 1940s

(You can read more about the challenge on my post introducing the challenge. Basically, Reading Through the Decades is a year-long reading challenge where we read books - and explore other media - from the 1900s to the 2020s, decade-by-decade.)

I didn’t have much time for this challenge this month because I started a new job (yay!), and, also, one of the books that I did read this month was a huge almost-800-page behemoth (!), which took up most of my reading time.

What I Enjoyed This Month

📖 Gone to Soldiers (1987), Marge Piercy -> A tapestry of World War II and a compelling chronicle of humans in conflict with inhuman events, Gone to Soldiers interweaves the stories of several characters, including a divorcee and writer of romances turned war correspondent, a Women’s Air Force Service Pilot, a cryptanalyst cracking Japanese codes, Resistance fighters, and a Marine in the Pacific theatre. -> I absolutely adore novels with a sizable cast of characters set during monumental historical events. This is a wonderful narrative of intersecting lives during WWII, with a focus on the lives of women, Jewish people, and civilians/non-militants.

🎬 The Night Watch (2011), dir. Richard Laxton -> Set against the turbulent backdrop of London in the 1940s, this film follows four young Londoners inextricably linked by their wartime experiences: Kay, who drove an ambulance during the war and lived life at full throttle, now wanders the streets with a restless hunger; Helen, clever, sweet, much-loved, harbours a painful secret; Viv, glamour girl, is stubbornly, even foolishly loyal, to her soldier lover; Duncan, an apparent innocent, has had his own demons to fight during the war. -> This is a movie adaptation of the novel The Night Watch by one of my favourite authors, Sarah Waters (known for her phenomenal historical novels with lesbian protagonists). While I prefer the book, this movie is a pretty good adaptation, and well worth a watch.

🎬 Oma maa (2018; Land of Hope), dir. Markku Pölönen -> A historical romantic drama, in which the daughter of a wealthy Finnish family falls in love with an orphaned war invalid, wounded at the end of World War II. Against her family’s wishes, they get married and leave their pasts behind to build a home in the wild forests of northern Karelia. -> I’ve wanted to see this movie ever since I saw its trailer in 2018 - finally, I watched it! It’s a lovely romantic movie about determination and the will to fight and work hard for what you want. I’m not entirely satisfied with how the couple resolved their problems towards the end of the movie, but I really enjoyed that the focus was on portraying the continuous work that goes into building a home and keeping a relationship going.

[hoshigray]

"nothing good" my fucking ass bc the way I'm reading this with my hand covering my mouth gurl WHAT

MY MAN MELTED TBE RING AND MADE IT A PIERCI— dawg. 🧍🏾‍♀️🧍🏾‍♀️🧍🏾‍♀️ I'm VEXXED you had this in the drafts away from me, hUH!!??? I'm sat. I promise you I am completely sat. Talking bout "I'm very sentimental" BROOOOO. And then the "You always gave me a problem, but now you're a good girl, hm?" line is sooooooooo fucking good 🫠🫠 we love us some toji who can bring a brat like you down

Wtf did you do tho??? I'm thinking you're like some kinda actress who had Toji in the early/young prime stages of your occupation. Maybe as you two got closer, your chemistry sparked up and your fans would often ship you with him bc 1) who doesn't love a brawny man as a bodyguard 🤷🏾‍♀️ and 2) you two were always together, like it was impossible to get you two away from each other no matter where you went: interviews, restaurants, talk shows, filming on set, etc.

So, how'd such a great pair break off? You told the crowd it was bc Toji had other business in his life he had to attend to — like his family (2 kids) and such, but was that really the case? Idk, that's just what I'm thinking, what can you inquire, mona dearest??

Hold on now don't think I forgot about this now 🤨🤨🤨 let's discuss, whatchu cooking in them drafts

👀 just something slight, nothing good smh sadly

[amodelista]

jamzzz

[lover-of-mine]

.

[ghetto---hippie]

It's a snow day here in lovely Colorado! The earliest snow fall I've experienced! Not upset at all ☃️⛷️🏂❄️ #snowday #tongueout #tongue #tonguepiercing #tonguering #piercied #piercings #girlswithpiercings #inked #tattoos #girl #pretty #cute #happy #model #linkinbio Link in bio for the uncensored stuff 🤤 (at Colorado) https://www.instagram.com/p/CE6rcEvMFBN/?igshid=kht4vot36rs5

[liriostigre]

what are ur fave poems of all-time?

hi 💌 here are some:

“Hanging Fire” by Audre Lorde

“Tired” by Langston Hughes

“Having a Coke with You” by Frank O'Hara

“Love After Love” by Derek Walcott

“Mayakovsky” by Frank O'Hara

“i like my body when it is with your” by E. E. Cummings

“New Year's Eve Prayer” by Jeff Buckley

“Rain” by Roberto Bolaño

“Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver

“Spring Torrents” by Sara Teasdale

“Tulips” by Sylvia Plath 

“A great Hope fell” by Emily Dickinson

“Poem” by Langston Hughes

“Sometimes I Pretend” by Naomi Shihab Nye

“What Was Once the Largest Shopping Center in Northern Ohio Was Built Where There Had Been a Pond I Used to Visit Every Summer Afternoon” by Mary Oliver

“Summer Morning” by Mary Oliver

“You Are Tired (I Think)” by E. E. Cummings

“Sifter” by Naomi Shihab Nye

“Emergency Management” by Camille Rankine

“Thanksgiving 2006” by Ocean Vuong

“Litany” by Langston Hughes

“Suicide in the Trenches” by Siegfried Sassoon

“I heard a Fly buzz - when I died” by Emily Dickinson

“Warning” by Jenny Joseph

“[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]” by E. E. Cummings

“Love Sorrow” by Mary Oliver

“Conversations About Home (at the Deportation Centre)” by Warsan Shire

“Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out” by Richard Siken

“Limited but Fertile Possibilities Are Offered by This Brochure” by Marge Piercy

“The Thing Is” by Ellen Bass

“Mad Girl's Love Song” by  Sylvia Plath

“The Century’s Decline” by Wislawa Szymborska

“A Primer For The Small Weird Loves” by Richard Siken

“Unpainted Door” by Louise Glück

“Spring has come back again” by Rainer Maria Rilke

“Homesickness” by Marina Tsvetaeva

“Don't Hesitate” by Mary Oliver

“There's a certain Slant of light” by Emily Dickinson

“Poem for Haruko” by June Jordan

“To Be Human Is to Sing Your Own Song” by Mary Oliver

“Toward a City That Sings” by June Jordan

“Edward the Confessor” by Eileen Myles (under the cut because I couldn't find it online)

Edward the Confessor by Eileen Myles

I have a confession to make I wish there were some role in society I could fulfill I could be a confessor I have a confession to make I have this way when I step into the bakery on 2nd Ave. of wanting to be the only really nice person in the store so the harried sales woman with several toned hair will like me. I do this in all kinds of stores, coffee shops xerox shops, everywhere I go. And invariably I leave my keys, xeroxing, my coffee from the last place I am being so nice. I try so hard to make a great impression on these neutral strangers right down to the perfect warm smile I get entirely lost and stagger back out onto the street, bereft of something major. It’s really leaning too hard on the everyday. My mother was the kind of woman who dragging us into stores always seemed to charm the pants off the cashier. She was such a great person, so human though at home she was such a bitch, I mean really distant. I imitate her and I don’t do it well. She didn’t leave her wallet or us in a store. I’m just a pale imitation it is simply not my style to open the hearts of strangers to my true personhood. I hope you accept this tiny confession of what I am currently going through. And if you are experiencing something of a similar nature tell someone, not me, but tell someone. It’s the new human program to be in. It would be nice for at least these final moments if we could sigh with the relief of being in the same program with all the other humans whispering in school. I can’t quite locate the terror, but I am trying to be my mother or Edward the Confessor smiling down on you with up-praying hands. I am looking down at the tips of my boots as I step across the balcony of the church excited to be allowed to say these things. Outside my church is a relationship. On 11th street this guy and this woman are selling the woman so they can get more dope. All their things are there, rags and loaves of bread and make-up. And there was— this was incredible. Two men lying by the door of the church giving each other blow-jobs. They were sort of street guys, one black one white. I said hey you can’t do that here. They jumped up, one spit come out of his mouth. If you don’t get out of here I’ll call the cops. Don’t call the cops we’ll go, we’ll leave. That was a shock. That was more than I expected to see in a day. Something about seeing the guy spit come out of his mouth. He didn’t have to do that. I guess I scared him. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was scared too.