#subversion of the poem?

[sluttygallavich]

Galladrabbles: in this space

This week's @galladrabbles is based on the poem prompt by @ardent-fox:

In this space right here that we have made for each other, you can say anything and I will not abandon you. Unwrap the worst things you have done. Watch me hold them up to the light and not even flinch. — Trista Mateer

_________________________

Finally, we have time. What we don’t have is space. Just four cement walls measuring six by eight.

At first I sleep better than I have in years, but now long after you’ve drifted off the guilt eats at me. I listen to your steady breaths and watch the walls closing in.

You’re trapped in here with all the worst things I’ve ever done, unable to abandon me now, even if you wanted to.

I watch for the moment you wake, waiting for the flinch as you remember where you are, what you’ve given up, but somehow it never comes.

[lafcadiosadventures]

Madame Putiphar Read Along: Prologue

so it begins!! :D

(I am using the Valdemar Gótica edition in charge of Mauro Armiño, and the french text in gutenberg dot org)

Prologue

(The work is dedicated to L.P., Lucinde Paradol, an actress Petrus had loved since 1831)

The Poet sets the scene within his sombre heart. 3 Knights battle in it for its dominion, with ceasless fury. The Poet’s agonic cries only increase the knight’s bloodlust. The struggle will be lifelong, the Poet knows he has no choice in the outcome, and he knows the victory of one of the Knights will be his doom.

The knights represent a classic allegorical theme: the Three Ages of Man. But also three attitudes:

-libertinage and artistic glory,

-religious or intellectual seclusion,

-suicide, a clean death before the world and its ways forces the Poet to compromise himself

They also reflect in a general structural way, the vital paths of our characters. This pattern of the three possible paths, the three ages of men, is very ancient. In western culture we usually start with greek philosophers and matematicians considering it the perfect number, a number that encompassed the three narrative acts. It’s a recurring theme in most religions, fairy and folk tales, and mythology. It is also a number that seems to appeal to how our brains work, easing the comprehension of decades spanning events in narratives: in fairytales, we usually get 3 attempts at the same magical action before the character succeeds, in cinematic editing when a character coughs 3 times, we know the illness is grave enough to be deadly.

Closer in time to Borel, and worth mentioning since we know the author is one of his influences, there’s a Diderot book, The Skeptic’s Walk, that follows this same format. Finished in 1747 but like most of Diderot’s fiction, it was published posthumously, in 1830. In it a philosopher and his friends get lost in symbollic garden paths made of roses, thorns and chestnuts, each representing pleasures of the flesh ->roses, agonies of futile religious deprivation ->thorns, and finally chestnuts-> the wisdom of Philosophy. In a pretty anti-enlightenment move, Diderot’s character ends up running into “the type of blonde philosophers should avoid”(a line that seems out of a noir) an escapee from the path of the roses, she urges him to choose the palpable reality of sensual joys. He agrees, and occasionally picks sensuality over intellectual pursuits.

But enough preambles, let us present our allegorical knights:

Our first knight is “young, fresh and alert” He wears a steel corselet which glistens under a net of green cloth like a glacier glimpsed from between pines. His color, green like the verdant, fertile forest of Youth. But what this luscious fields hide is the frozen desert of the glacier. He is blond, beautiful, his eyes reflect love. His portrait is adorned with refernces to Spain: rides an Andalusian horse whom the the Knight of Youth makes shiver when manipulating his dagger and rondell like a vain toreador. (I don’t feel confident enough yet to try and say what Spain means for Borel, but his feelings towards Spain, the Spanish language and hispanic cultures are usually very positive)(so let’s say these allusions render him more appealing)

Enter the Second Knight. His characterization is compossed of references to christianity and the gothic: He looks like a reliquary. His donkey’s protruding bones make the animal resemble a rosary, covered with a shorn horse blanket that would catch the eye of an antiquary for it could be that of Queen Isabeau, travelling from Bavaria to France (her attire for the occasion was especially lavish)

He is fat, greasy, his breathing: laborious and loud. The anthitetic starving donkey carrying the heavy knight makes the spectator think of Shrovetide carrying Carnival on its back. However, the knight himself is made of anthiteses and contradictions. He looks like a glutton, but wears the attire of a penitent monk. (foreshadowing perhaps a priest in the novel who is not as chaste as he should be) He drags his habit through the ground, staining the holy clothes. He wears the hood because in order to “sell himself to the heavens” he has to conceal who he is or perhaps what he does. While he preaches virtue, sitting with his legs wide open (the expression Borel uses, à califourchon, is possibly composed of the ancient breton word for testicules) on his frail donkey, he is inspired by Sabaoth, the avatar of the Lord when leading the armies of the angels in Judaism. (there are many interpretations of this version of God and this name, and I am not well versed in Judaism, but from the context, he seems to be preaching virtue while sitting in a somewhat obscene manner, inspired by a war-like deity of another religion) He insults, curses and swears, arrogantly challenging his two rivals. These insults are backed by a huge mace. This second knight is completely drenched in blood and kisses a crucifix. To sum it up, he is older, dirtier, bloodier, associated with phallic and christian imagery, his appereance of weakness is decieveing. His attitudes span widely between the pious or the violent.

We meet, finally, the Third Knight. He is like the Comander in the Don Juan mythos, a man of stone. (based on the spanish folk tale of the “convidado de piedra”, the guest made of stone is the funereal monument of the Comander’s grave, who Juan Tenorio mockingly invites to dine after realizing he killed him when the Commander tried to avenge the rape of his daughter. The commander famously represents Death, shows up to Juan’s supper and invites him to dine with him in Hell instead.) He is horrifying and lugubrious. When hit by the other knights, he makes the sound of a hollow tomb. He is pretty much a grim reaper made of stone, he carries a scythe, which weeps streams of blood, carries a hunter’s trap from which a hanged man swings, grimmacing in a grotesque manner. Instead of a scimitar he carries a fisherman’s hook, from which tiny nets filled with worms and larvae hang. (is this a reference to the fisherman imagery in christianity? With an ironic twist because the paradise the stony knight offers is the absolute nothingness of the grave)

The 1st Knight, represents our tangible world. He attracts the narrator with crowns of flowers, and gallantly covers any puddles the poet finds in his path with his cloak, and wipes off his tears.

Now it’s the turn for the knights to address the Poet, and the language becomes erotic: the knight of Youth wishes the poet to give in to him completely, without restraints or remorse. He wants him to dive into his chest, abandoning himself to the oscilations of the vermillion waves within it. He is the joyous, smiling side of the world, which opens itself to the youth of the narrator, revealing a future of magic from which the days of his glory will spring. It’s the world of stars and dreams but also the world of prostitution and voluptuosness. The knight of Youth offers all the pleasures of the World, he will fullfil all of the Poet’s possible desires: voluptuos women, banquets, dances, glory.

The second knight with the kindly air, serious attitude and a face made sombre by loneliness, repressents the Cloister, where the love of the Lord emmanates in streams. The Cloister Knight claims the narrator for himself, because the tangible, sensual World is a mirage, everything in it vanishes like a dream, glory and the dream of posterity are only masks pride likes to wear. It is a vain entreprise to raise onseself a living monument, because the world forgets it all. Carnal love is impure. He must join the Second Knight in the Cloister to presserve the virginities of his soul. The Cloister is not only religious, if meditation doesn’t captivate him, he can always explore wisdom and science, but never Philosophy, (the enlightenment group were notably called the Philosophes, -a word that was used to design an intellectual- and they usually opposed organized religion) which defiles the wonders of Christ.

The third Knight, the eternal leverler, the implacable reaper, whom the narrator strokes and secretly honors, (the only one of the Knights the Narrator tells us openly how he feels about) is the Void: Death. As he is ancient, he adresses the Narrator as a child, and invites him to probe into his earthy body, to drown in his muddy, shadowy chrysalis. He forgets to harvest no grape of the vine of humanity, so why wait until pain has shattered his heart to blow out his candle? Death, the Knight claims, is Our Lady of Joy and Salvation! The grave: the Promised Land. He urges our Poet not to listen to the rhethoric of the Cloister, it promises rest but Man is trapped by his obsessions in it, like Saint Anthony, who suffered tempted like a Satyr in the desert: The Cloister is the same as the World without the posibility of fullfilment or satisfaction. Joy is only possible underground where one is safe from fake friendship, ambition or lost illusions. Absolute nothing is an abscense, a dead lightning, a botomless sea, a void without an echo.

Thus, capitulates the Poet, have combated the three knights for years without quarter. His heart is wounded by this constant struggle because it’s doubtful, religious, crazy, mondain, and unbelieving at the same time. But it’s a matter of time, one of the Knights will vanquish the others and the Poet will perish, a prey of either the World, the Cloister or the Void, and he has no choice in the outcome.

We know all the knights’s paths are fake, Youth appears fertile but conceals a heart of ice, Cloister preaches virtue and science but is a licentious, violent man, Death promises rest, but is shown torturing its victims. The Poet is harrased by the three incarnations of paths he knows are purposely deceitful, attempting to seduce him with mirages. Life, he tells us at the beginning of the poem, is pain in bloom, nothing in life is real or worthy, except perhaps this struggle, and the Poet’s realization that these options are deceitful.

[mirristinblack]

[untitled]

Drops of RAIN WATER fall on leaves and noses And fill the air A scene so clean, hinting of WHITE FLOWERS Splash in a puddle!

Aromatherapeutic Household Products. Creating clean and happy homes since 2001. Tough on dirt and grime. Gentle on your clothes.

He & Conventional Machines. Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day 64 Loads

[ourburningbridges]

I’m their puppet, stringing wealth

I’m a stranger to myself.

It’s hot winters; cool summers

Living in their suburbs.

Close us in, control our eyes

They won’t ever tell us lies.

It’s no place for the lovers

Living in their suburbs.

a chorus in progress, transformed into anarchism poetry. ♡

I.F.L 🐇

[genderqueerdykes]

honestly as a butch, i just gotta say it: that "chivalrous knight in shining armor" crap is objectifying as hell and it's not fun, cute, or validating to apply to us, it provides a burden for us to bear, it makes us paranoid, tired, weary and feel like we're being reduced to a stereotype, or like we're being forced into a mold.

i'm not a knight just because i'm a transmasculine person who looks tough and can theoretically protect femme queers. i'm literally just standing here, being transsexual. i'm not inherently "chilvarous," i don't have any obligation to protect people just because i adopted the label "butch". what if i'm weak? what if the butch needs to be protected? what if the butch is disabled, traumatized, or just scared? i'm a wheelchair user.

why can't femmes protect their butches? why does it always have to be the butch being the chivalrous knight in our yearning posts and poems? why do we have to weave a performative ass narrative of the masculine partner swooping in to protect their defenseless feminine partner? how the HELL is this progressive or subversive at all? this is literally reinventing the binary.

the way the (white) cis lesbian community treats its butches is alienating as all hell. we are not here just to protect other people. we are not inherently protectors. we are not all strong. we are allowed to be weak. we are allowed to be scared. we are allowed to be hurt. we don't HAVE to protect our femmes, if we like femmes at all. not every butch is attracted to femme people in the first place.

butch isn't a lifestyle, it's not a set personality type. it's not a specific set of actions; it's just queer masculinity, that can be expressed by a multitude of queers for a multitude of reasons. it's not one specific set of traits. masculinity is not just found in protecting others and acting tough, it's also in being soft, vulnerable, weak and tender.

just let butches be people, don't turn us into objects before we even get out of the gates. all of this removes the human element of being butch. if the queer community can't afford that, we can't get it from anywhere, because we sure as hell aren't seen as humans by cisheteronormative society.

don't force me to see myself as a knight when i'm the one who needs help just because i'm masculine, or just because i'm a man.

butches need help, too.

[xaeyrnofnbe]

fnc thoughts as i really should be going to sleep

to me, in my heart, fnc is just gillion admiring chip and thinking he's so good and kind and selfless and wonderful and chip just being oblivious and nervous and thinking stuff like do i smell bad? are my teeth gross? oh god does gill hate me

just a total subversion of expectations. like you'd THINK gillion would be the dumb and oblivious one, and i guess he kind of still is, but he's also a paladin. he only knows how to commit his entire heart to something. as they've both grown, he's only ever seen improvement in chip and chip's honorability, and in turn he's been changed BY chip for the better, as well, and he's very aware of this fact, and loves him for it despite how terrifying the change can be.

and chip may seem like his lack of self esteem and stuff would lead to him building up gillion in his head and seeing himself as inferior, but i wayyyy prefer him just being a silly dumbass who still hasn't noticed gillion staring at him like he's the most beautiful poem he's ever read. just tripping over himself as he grapples with his feelings while gill is entirely in acceptance with his own, even though both think their feelings are one-sided

[sad-boys-book-club]

"&" Ampersand - A Literary Companion

Selected stories with the themes of Bastille's upcoming project "&" Ampersand. And, of course, a love letter to my favourite band.

PART 1

Intros & Narrators: Wallace, David Foster. Oblivion: Stories. Little, Brown and Company, 2004./ Nancherla, Aparna. Unreliable Narrator: Me, Myself, and Impostor Syndrome. Penguin Publishing Group, 2023.// Eve & Paradise Lost: Bohannon, Cat. Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2023. / Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Alma Classics, 2019.// Emily & Her Penthouse In The Sky: Dickinson, Emily. Emily Dickinson’s Poems: As She Preserved Them. Harvard University Press, 2016. /Dickinson, Emily. Emily Dickinson: Letters. Edited by Emily Fragos, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2011.// Blue Sky & The Painter: Prideaux, Sue. Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream. Yale University Press, 2019. / Knausgaard, Karl Ove. So Much Longing in So Little Space: The Art of Edvard Munch. Random House, 2019.//

PART 2

Leonard & Marianne: Hesthamar, Kari. So Long, Marianne: A Love Story - Includes Rare Material by Leonard Cohen. Ecw Press, 2014./ Cohen, Leonard. Book of Longing. Penguin Books Limited, 2007.// Marie & Polonium: Curie, Eve. Madame Curie. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2013./Sobel, Dava. The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2024.// Red Wine & Wilde: Wilde, Oscar, et al. De Profundis. Harry N. Abrams, 1998./ Sturgis, Matthew. Oscar: A Life. Head of Zeus, 2018.// Seasons & Narcissus: Ovid. Metamorphoses: A New Verse Translation. Penguin, 2004./ Morales, Helen. Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of the Ancient Myths. PublicAffairs, 2020.//

PART 3

Drawbridge & The Baroness: Rothschild, Hannah. The Baroness: The Search for Nica, the Rebellious Rothschild. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2013./ Katz, Judy H. White Awareness: Handbook for Anti-racism Training. University of Oklahoma Press, 1978.// The Soprano & Her Midnight Wonderings: Ardoin, John, and Gerald Fitzgerald. Callas: The Art and the Life. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974./ Abramovic, Marina. 7 Deaths of Maria Callas. Damiani, 2020.// Essie & Paul: Ransby, Barbara. Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson. Haymarket Books, 2022./ Robeson, Paul. Here I Stand. Beacon Press, 1998.//

PART 4

Mademoiselle & The Nunnery Blaze: Gautier, Theophile. Mademoiselle de Maupin. Penguin Classics, n.d./ Gardiner, Kelly. Goddess. HarperCollins, 2014.// Zheng Yi Sao & Questions For Her: Chang-Eppig, Rita. Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023./ Borges, Jorge Luis. A Universal History of Infamy. Penguin Books, 1975. // Telegraph Road 1977 & 2024: Kaufman, Bob. Golden Sardine. City Lights Books, 1976./ Wolfe, Tom. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Pan Macmillan Australia Pty, Limited, 2008.

Original artwork created by Theo Hersey & Dan Smith. Printed letterpress at The Typography Workshop, South London.

[makingqueerhistory]

Queer Book Recommendations

Every once in a while I like sharing some queer book recommendations on here as I read a lot and I get requests to share some of the books I love, so here we go! 

Tell Me I'm Worthless: Three years ago, Alice spent one night in an abandoned house with her friends Ila and Hannah. Since then, things have not been going well. Alice is living a haunted existence, selling videos of herself cleaning for money, going to parties she hates, drinking herself to sleep. She hasn’t spoken to Ila since they went into the House. She hasn’t seen Hannah either.

Our Wives Under The Sea: Miri thinks she has got her wife back, when Leah finally returns after a deep sea mission that ended in catastrophe. It soon becomes clear, though, that Leah may have come back wrong. Whatever happened in that vessel, whatever it was they were supposed to be studying before they were stranded on the ocean floor, Leah has carried part of it with her, onto dry land and into their home. 

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty: Feyi Adekola wants to learn how to be alive again.It’s been five years since the accident that killed the love of her life and she’s almost a new person now—an artist with her own studio, and sharing a brownstone apartment with her ride-or-die best friend, Joy, who insists it’s time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career.

Silver Under Nightfall: Remy Pendergast is many things: the only son of the Duke of Valenbonne (though his father might wish otherwise), an elite bounty hunter of rogue vampires, and an outcast among his fellow Reapers. His mother was the subject of gossip even before she eloped with a vampire, giving rise to the rumors that Remy is half-vampire himself. Though the kingdom of Aluria barely tolerates him, Remy’s father has been shaping him into a weapon to fight for the kingdom at any cost.

Disintegrate/Dissociate: In her powerful debut collection of poetry, Arielle Twist unravels the complexities of human relationships after death and metamorphosis. In these spare yet powerful poems, she explores, with both rage and tenderness, the parameters of grief, trauma, displacement, and identity. Weaving together a past made murky by uncertainty and a present which exists in multitudes, Arielle Twist poetically navigates through what it means to be an Indigenous trans woman, discovering the possibilities of a hopeful future and a transcendent, beautiful path to regaining softness. 

The Perks of Loving a Wallflower: As a master of disguise, Thomasina Wynchester can be a polite young lady—or a bawdy old man. She’ll do whatever it takes to solve the cases her family takes on. But when Tommy’s beautiful new client turns out to be the highborn lady she’s secretly smitten with, more than her mission is at stake . . . 

It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror: Horror movies hold a complicated space in the hearts of the queer community: historically misogynist, and often homo- and transphobic, the genre has also been inadvertently feminist and open to subversive readings. Common tropes—such as the circumspect and resilient “final girl,” body possession, costumed villains, secret identities, and things that lurk in the closet—spark moments of eerie familiarity and affective connection. Still, viewers often remain tasked with reading themselves into beloved films, seeking out characters and set pieces that speak to, mirror, and parallel the unique ways queerness encounters the world. 

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture: Everything you know about sex and asexuality is (probably) wrong. The notion that everyone wants sex–and that we all have to have it–is false. It’s intertwined with our ideas about capitalism, race, gender, and queerness. And it impacts the most marginalized among us. For asexual folks, it means that ace and A-spec identity is often defined by a queerness that’s not queer enough, seen through a lens of perceived lack: lack of pleasure, connection, joy, maturity, and even humanity.

[tayloralisonswift]

invisible string? subversive lie? i'd love to hear more

hi sorry i just saw this !

SO basically invisible string is based on a quote from ernest hemingway's the sun also rises. specifically, the final page of the novel:

for some context: in the sun also rises is about a man named jake whose world war 1 wounds mean he can't have sex. he's chasing after brett but he knows he can never have her because of his disability, and at one point early on she says she loves him but they both know it doesn't matter. this final page is brett throwing out this possibility of them together, but jake sees through it. it's a daydream: what if the war hadn't (in her eyes) ruined you? what if i saw you as a real man? and jake knows that the war has ruined him and he is not (in her eyes) a real man. it's futile, to imagine these things; it's fake, it's not real now and it never will be. so when brett says, we could have had such a damned good time together, jake replies, isn't it pretty to think so? as in, isn't it lovely to imagine this world that never happened and never will? isn't it magical to pretend everything were different?

so at first, i thought that invisible string, frankly, was misunderstanding this passage and taylor just liked the sound of it. and i guess that's still a reading. but what changed my mind was what we learned about sweet nothing:

by liking this tweet, taylor was confirming that her sweet love song was a daydream. it wasn't based on real events from her real relationship, it was an exercise in imagination: what if i came home with a poem and you said this? what if you wanted nothing from me in a good way? etc etc.

so that had me rethinking invisible string. what if the song similarly was exploring a pretty lie, a daydream that didn't line up with the faithless love described a few songs later?

she's saying, isn't it sweet to imagine that we were fated to be happily together? it's not real, but let's pretend for a moment it is. taylor loves to play with the idea of fate in her music (state of grace, mastermind, the prophecy come to mind immediately) and she debates within these and other songs whether fate is controlling her narrative or she is. here, she is letting fate take the reins and tells a story of two people fated to be together. isn't it pretty to think this was meant to be? it wasn't, and never will be, but isn't it lovely to think so?

invisible string is sweet as a love song, but i don't think it was meant as a genuine one. like the sun also rises, the relationship was not fated to be, and she would not end up with him, but alone. it was pretty to think something else could've happened, but it was doomed from the start - and i'm not saying that in hindsight, i'm saying she called it doomed even back in 2020 with this song.

sorry this is so long. thank you for the question <3

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

"You might as well ask an artist to explain his art, or ask a poet to explain his poem. It defeats the purpose. The meaning is only clear through the search."

This is honestly one of my favorite lines in the entire series.

Do creators like talking about what they make? Absolutely. I do it all the time.

BUT.

What's the fun if people don't try to dissect it themselves? Multiple meanings can come out of art, and different interpretations can be fun! I litter all my fics with little hints and puzzle pieces for the readers to pick up one! I want to hear their thoughts!

Especially when you MASH THOSE THOUGHTS TOGETHER! :D

Apollo's not saying this as an excuse. He might know what the prophecy means, he might not- but would it even matter either way? Apollo knows prophecies aren't to be trifled with. He's very careful about them, but will go out of his way to subvert Fate as much as possible when he believes he needs to (see: giving Leo the Curse of Delos, resulting in a subversion of Fate) but he is also beholden to Fate's design (see: Jason's prophecy, where Fate was fulfilled).

I'm typing this as I write chapter 4 of my Dusk to Dawn fic, which is TTC in Apollo's POV, and I had some Thoughts about this moment so here they are lol

"Can't you tell us what the prophecy means?" Percy asks.

No, Apollo is saying. No I cannot. But the answer to your question can be found if you look for it.

"So...you don't know."

*insert internal noises of frustration* CHIRON WHAT ARE YOU TEACHING THE KIDS THESE DAYS-? I LITERALLY GAVE HIM GPS DIRECTIONS TO NEREUS-?

Working around not only the No-Interference Policy but ALSO the Laws of Fate is DIFFICULT Percy!!! He's trying his best!!! /hj

In other words, Apollo, the god of knowledge and patron of education himself, is saying:

"Use Your Damn Critical Thinking Skills!"

Fitting, how his series is the one critical thinking is a must-have to dissect...

[raptorific]

In the Layman Section and they ask me why I was kicked out of the Pretentious Section. I tell them it's because I said "Allen Ginsberg's Howl would be the greatest poem of all time, were he shot dead immediately after writing the first line, but instead, like all Beat Poetry, it is an exercise in ego-masturbation by men without skill who insult their reader's intelligence by trying to pass a lack of basic skill off as an intentional subversion of traditional form, who've mistaken Peyote for Profound Thought." I am forcibly removed from the Layman Section and deposited back in the Pretentious Section.

[toby-du-coeur]

yes!! another suggestion is blackout poetry. especially if you have a vendetta against certain ideologies 😂 it's soo satisfying, empowering {and easy} to transform one message into something entirely different, personalised and Better

Small joys Saturday! I started making little digital diary collages and it’s really opened up the way I look at art as a depressed person with chronic pain who spends a lot of time just sitting in bed like now I can create something even when I feel like shit and idk it just makes me super excited and happy :)) !! ❤️❤️❤️

that’s so so cool!!! i’m so glad youve found a way to make creating more accessible for you !!!! <3

[talonabraxas]

The Green Man Talon Abraxas

The Green Man Mythology

The Green Man is a figure that appears in the mythology and folklore of many different cultures throughout the world. Here are some of the myths and legends associated with the Green Man:

1. Celtic Mythology: In Celtic mythology, the Green Man is often associated with the god Cernunnos, who is the lord of the forest and the patron of animals and fertility. In some stories, the Green Man is said to be a manifestation of Cernunnos himself, while in others he is a separate entity associated with nature and the wild.

2. Medieval Christianity: In medieval Christian art and architecture, the Green Man is often depicted as a pagan symbol of fertility and rebirth, with his face and body composed of leaves, vines, and other plant life. Some scholars believe that the Green Man may have been a subversive symbol of pre-Christian spirituality that was incorporated into Christian art as a way of appealing to pagan audiences.

3. English Folklore: In English folklore, the Green Man is often associated with the May Day (Beltane) celebrations that take place on May 1st. In some traditions, a young man is dressed in green and crowned with flowers to represent the Green Man, while in others a figure made of branches and foliage is paraded through the streets.

4. Native American Mythology: In Native American mythology, the Green Man is associated with the Great Spirit and is seen as a symbol of renewal and rebirth. In some traditions, the Green Man is said to emerge from the earth each spring to bring new life to the world.

5. Hindu Mythology: In Hindu mythology, the Green Man is associated with the god Shiva, who is known as the lord of the wild and is often depicted with a wreath of snakes and leaves around his neck. Shiva is said to have a connection to nature and is often associated with the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

These are just a few examples of the many different myths and legends associated with the Green Man. The figure of the Green Man continues to inspire artists, writers, and spiritual seekers today, and his message of connection to the natural world and the cycles of life and death remains as relevant as ever.

The Green Man Folklore

There are many stories and legends involving the Green Man, and the details of these stories may vary depending on the culture or tradition. Here are a few examples:

1. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: This medieval English poem tells the story of Sir Gawain, a knight who must face the Green Knight in a challenge. The Green Knight is a giant figure dressed in green, with a face made of leaves and branches. The Green Knight challenges Sir Gawain to strike him with an axe, and promises to return the blow in one year's time. When the Green Knight returns, he reveals himself to be a magical being who tests Sir Gawain's courage and honour.

2. The Green Man and the Princess: This Scottish folklore tells the story of a princess who is kidnapped by the Green Man and taken to his home in the forest. The princess fears for her life, but the Green Man assures her that he means her no harm and offers to make her his queen. Over time, the princess comes to love the Green Man and the natural world that he represents.

3. The Wild Hunt: In Germanic folklore, the Wild Hunt is a group of supernatural beings who ride through the night on horses or other animals, led by a figure known as the Huntsman or the Green Man. The Green Man is often depicted as a wild, untamed figure who represents the power of nature.

4. The Green Children of Woolpit: This medieval English legend tells the story of two children who appeared in the village of Woolpit with green skin. The children claimed to have come from a land called St. Martin's Land, where everything was green. Some have interpreted this story as a metaphor for the power of nature and the connection between humans and the natural world.

These are just a few examples of the many stories and legends associated with the Green Man. The figure of the Green Man continues to capture the imagination of people around the world, inspiring artists, writers, and spiritual seekers with his message of connection to the natural world and the cycles of life and death.

The Green Man in Modern Witchcraft

The Green Man holds a special place in the spiritual practice of modern-day Witches and Wiccans. The figure of the Green Man represents the natural world and the cycles of growth, decay, and renewal, and is seen as a symbol of the interconnectedness of all things.

In Witchcraft, the Green Man is often associated with the element of Earth, as well as the energy of the masculine or yang principle. He is seen as a guardian of the wild places, and is often called upon for protection, guidance, and inspiration.

The Green Man is also associated with the Wheel of the Year, the cycle of seasonal celebrations that mark the solstices, equinoxes, and cross-quarter days. Many Witches and Wiccans celebrate the festivals of the Wheel of the Year in honour of the Green Man and the cycles of nature that he represents.

In addition, many Witches and Wiccans incorporate the image of the Green Man into their magical tools and rituals. The image of the Green Man may be used to represent the God or divine masculine energy in ritual, or may be incorporated into spells and charms for protection, prosperity, and growth.

The Green Man and the Holly King

The Green Man and the Holly King are both figures from pagan mythology that are associated with the cycle of the seasons and the natural world. While they are often associated with each other, they represent different aspects of the seasonal cycle.

The Green Man is associated with the spring and summer seasons, and represents the energy of growth, fertility, and abundance. He is often depicted as a wild, untamed figure with leaves or foliage growing from his face and body.

The Holly King, on the other hand, is associated with the winter season, and represents the energy of decay, darkness, and the turning of the year. He is often depicted as a dark, stern figure with a crown of holly or other evergreens.

In some traditions, the Green Man and the Holly King are seen as counterparts or rivals, with the Holly King reigning over the winter months while the Green Man holds sway over the summer months. The two figures may be invoked in seasonal celebrations such as the winter solstice and the summer solstice, with the Holly King being honoured at the former and the Green Man at the latter.

Overall, the Green Man and the Holly King are both important figures in pagan mythology, representing different aspects of the seasonal cycle and the natural world. Together, they embody the cyclical nature of life and the interconnectedness of all things.

The Green Man in The Wheel of the Year

The Green Man is a figure associated with the cycle of the seasons and the natural world, and as such, he is often connected to the eight sabbats or seasonal festivals celebrated by many modern-day Witches and Wiccans.

The Green Man is especially associated with the sabbats that celebrate the spring and summer seasons, including:

1. Beltane: This sabbat is celebrated on May 1st and marks the beginning of summer. It is a time when the energy of the Green Man is at its strongest, representing the energy of growth, fertility, and abundance.

2. Litha (Summer Solstice): This sabbat is celebrated around June 20th-23rd and marks the longest day and shortest night of the year. It is a time when the power of the sun is at its height, and the Green Man is often invoked as a symbol of the vibrant energy of the summer season.

3. Lammas/Lughnasadh: This sabbat is celebrated on August 1st and marks the beginning of the harvest season. It is a time when the energy of the Green Man begins to wane, as the days begin to grow shorter and the energy of the autumn season begins to take hold.

Overall, the Green Man is seen as a powerful symbol of the cycles of nature and the interconnectedness of all things. His energy is especially associated with the spring and summer seasons, when the natural world is at its most vibrant and abundant.

Ways To Honour The Green Man

Honouring the Green Man on your altar is a wonderful way to connect with the energy of growth and renewal. Here are some altar decorations that you may find helpful when working with the Green Man:

1. Greenery: As the Green Man is often associated with foliage and plant life, incorporating fresh greenery into your altar is a great way to honour him. You can use fresh or dried leaves, branches, or flowers to decorate your altar space.

2. Statues and images: Adding a statue or image of the Green Man to your altar can help you connect with his energy. Look for statues or images that depict the Green Man with leaves or foliage growing from his face or body.

3. Crystals: Certain crystals are associated with the energy of growth and abundance, and can be used to enhance your connection to the Green Man. Some good choices include green aventurine, moss agate, and green jade.

4. Candles: Green candles are a great way to honour the Green Man on your altar. You may also want to consider using candles that are scented with earthy or woodsy essential oils, such as cedarwood or pine.

5. Symbols of the natural world: Adding symbols of the natural world, such as feathers, acorns, or seashells, can help you connect with the energy of the Green Man and the cycles of nature.

6. Offerings: The Green Man is often associated with abundance and growth, so offering fruits, vegetables, or other foods from the earth can be a great way to honour him on your altar.

Remember, the most important thing when creating an altar to honour the Green Man is to follow your intuition and create a space that feels meaningful and powerful to you.

Overall, the Green Man is seen as a powerful and inspiring symbol for modern-day Witches and Wiccans, representing the beauty and power of nature and the interconnectedness of all things.

[raayllum]

Anyway time to talk about the 6x03 poem:

As many others have speculated judging by the map, Captain Skall made her way to Hook named after her, and then "as east she sailed into waters so deadly and cold" in the Frozen Shards, her ship eventually being stuck and meeting her doom there.

With that out of the way, I want to talk about other pieces of info, why this might be the poem for 6x03 specifically, and where I think Skall may fit timeline wise:

"From the isles without name" makes me think of the Independent Isles in between Evenere and Katolis.

"sailing north, she called herself free" makes me feel feral with Callum (and Rayla) doing the same in hopes of freeing Callum from Aaravos' grasp by destroying the prison

"Through forests and flowers, past the uneven towers" clearly symbolizes Katolis, indicating that Skall lived once most of the human kingdoms had been established, and thereby post-Exile/Exodus.

"Skall hungered for glory, she wanted a story / they’d tell it long after she died". Routinely we see a desire for glory / worthiness / power described as hunger ("Hungry for knowledge and power" / "But that small taste left some humans hungry—starved, even—for a better path. An easier path. And thus Elarion became the birthplace of a new form of magic, a shortcut to primal power: dark magic"). This also comes into seeking a legacy.

"So with winter wind’s blowing / she sailed north, forgoing / a man who’d have made her his bride". This is where we see the poem take a more negative slant in a few ways. The first is winter, wind, and north, setting up a future unfortunate turn of events. This is also the first mention of Skall having something else in her life other than adventure and something she had to subsequently abandon. While the end of the poem is much more on her side of feelings, "forgoing" does mean "renouncing; sacrificing or giving up" something that is more positive.

"Alone in the cold, yet ever so bold" again adds to the more negative feeling the poem is building, as boldness is in the contrast with "alone in the cold" that's overall negative and maintaining a bit more of an upkeep. Likewise, we see the return of the wind with an even more negative connotation in wailing in the following stanza: "And oh, winter wailed / as east she sailed / into waters so deadly and cold". We see the return of cold but also the change into things being 'deadly' (although there were still hints of danger earlier, as 'bold' indicates).

"Then came the ice, and trapped in its vise" The cold finally catches up to her, and we see ice return as a form of entrapment (2x06, 3x08, 3x09, 5x04, 5x06, 5x08). Most interestingly, "vise" is a tool with closable jaws for clamping things. Maybe the ice is magical, or the jaw of a great (the dragon we've seen in the trailer) creature?

"And while she found peace / she wished that, at least / she’d told him she loved him, always". While the poem ends on a somewhat bittersweet end (at death but at peace), we do see that Skall died with a final regret to the man she could've wed but left instead.

Or you could say, a last wish.

Either way, the poem paints a rather grim journey: going North didn't hold the same freedom and achievements that Skall hoped for, and instead led to entrapment, separation, and death.

That said: there's a few Rayllum-y things I think we can glean from this poem, for starters:

1) The episode will likely have a strong focus on Callum and Rayla sailing to and/or through the Frozen Sea on whatever ship they're planning to use to get there. This leaves 6x02 "Love, War, and Mushrooms" more open to either explore other plot lines or another pit stop in their journey (like say, the Silvergrove)

2) The poem itself has pretty clear Rayllum parallels, specifically in TDP's continual gender subversion of the women who puts other things above her romantic relationship, even if it's likewise seen as a sacrifice. Rayla left Callum in order to protect him/the world from Viren, even if that meant damaging their relationship, and Skall puts her desire for glory and adventure over presumably a more settled married life at home. (Excuse me while I scream over "forgoing a man who'd have made her his bride.")

3) The poem likewise has some parallels to Rayla's "Dear Callum" letter specifically. There are wishes expressed of the leaving party, a desire to have made feelings more plain that Callum reiterates in 5x04 when they think they're about to die ("I hope you know—" "I know"), and most notably, a parallel to the always mention:

she wished that, at least she’d told him she loved him, always.

But, if it does—if you feel that soft aching—know that that piece of your heart isn’t missing. It’s not missing at all, Callum: I’m carrying it with me! Always. I love you. I love you so much.

4) All this bodes quite well for 6x03 being an episode with a big Rayllum moment in it — perhaps even their Big "You Finally Came Back" Talk — especially since there's not much else to (presumably) happen on a ship if they're just travelling somewhere (and not being pursued this time).

Episode Speculation (a summary / misc thoughts)

Callum and Rayla travelling to the Frozen Sea

Big Talk happens

+ potential love confession / reaffirmation?

They reach the other end of the Frozen Sea

Maybe fight the big dragon from the video game teaser we see with Rayla (like Skall, she has literal hooks = blades) whose guarding or in their way to the Starscraper? Could account for the jaws and maybe the ice

One of them is worried and/or has a moment of thinking the other person is hurt/injured bc of said dragon fight?

Maybe some Aaravos backstory in his lost love (although like I said, I don't think it's Skall exactly — I still think the likeliest names are Elara-adjacent or Kalik)

Episode Title Speculation (in about this order):

The Frozen Sea

By River and Sea

Always (this would be my personal favourite and i would never stop screaming)

[englishflagcumrag]

something this episode really drove home is how much this season is a love letter to art, especially subversive art. even when the art itself isn’t what we’d consider subversive even in the 50s context, it’s about loving art enough to fight for its existence. jughead’s comics code authority plotline is the most obvious example but it’s everywhere: uncle frank trying to stop archie writing his poems, betty’s books on sexuality being derided and confiscated, veronica being blocked out of the cinema industry, kevin not being allowed to put on his musical, kevin writing a song for that musical about being gay and then never putting it in, the need for the black athena to exist in the first place, the way cheryl and toni sneak their lesbian pulp novels around, cheryl’s art being destroyed, fangs’ music needing to be profitable for it - or even him - to have value, josie having to fund her movie entirely out of her own money. it’s everywhere once you start looking for it. and there’s also immense power in winning that fight: betty writing her own book and the effect that has on her relationship with her mother, pep comics dying with dignity, archie’s gay mom kicking uncle frank out so he can ride the rails and write poetry in peace, veronica’s cinema succeeding anyway. maybe the real archie’s weird fantasy was the friends we made along the way.

[fatehbaz]

Coral today is an icon of environmental crisis, its disappearance from the world’s oceans an emblem for the richness of forms and habitats either lost to us or at risk. Yet, as Michelle Currie Navakas shows in [...] Coral Lives: Literature, Labor, and the Making of America, our accounts today of coral as beauty, loss, and precarious future depend on an inherited language from the nineteenth century. [...] Navakas traces how coral became the material with which writers, poets, and artists debated community, labor, and polity in the United States.

The coral reef produced a compelling teleological vision of the nation: just as the minute coral “insect,” working invisibly under the waves, built immense structures that accumulated through efforts of countless others, living and dead, so the nation’s developing form depended on the countless workers whose individuality was almost impossible to detect. This identification of coral with human communities, Navakas shows, was not only revisited but also revised and challenged throughout the century. Coral had a global biography, a history as currency and ornament that linked it to the violence of slavery. It was also already a talisman - readymade for a modern symbol [...]. Not least, for nineteenth-century readers in the United States, it was also an artifact of knowledge and discovery, with coral fans and branches brought back from the Pacific and Indian Oceans to sit in American parlors and museums. [...]

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[W]ith material culture analysis, [...] [there are] three common early American coral artifacts, familiar objects that made coral as a substance much more familiar to the nineteenth century than today: red coral beads for jewelry, the coral teething toy, and the natural history specimen. This chapter [...] [brings] together a fascinating range of representations of coral in nineteenth-century painting and sculptures.

With the material presence of coral firmly in place, Navakas returns us to its place in texts as metaphor for labor, with close readings of poetry and ephemeral literature up to the Civil War era. [...] [Navakas] includes an intriguing examination of the posthumous reputation of the eighteenth-century French naturalist Jean-André Peyssonnel who first claimed that coral should be classed as an animal (or “insect”), not plant. Navakas then [...] considers white reformers [...] and Black authors and activists, including James McCune Smith and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and a singular Black charitable association in Cleveland, Ohio, at the end of the century, called the Coral Builders’ Society. [...]

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[H]er attention to layered knowledge allows her to examine the subversions of coral imagery that arose [...]. Obviously, the mid-nineteenth-century poems that lauded coral as a metaphor for laboring men who raised solid structures for a collective future also sought to naturalize a system that kept some kinds of labor and some kinds of people firmly pressed beneath the surface. Coral’s biography, she notes, was “inseparable from colonial violence at almost every turn” (p. 7). Yet coral was also part of the material history of the Black Atlantic [...].

Thus, a children’s Christmas story, “The Story of a Coral Bracelet” (1861), written by a West Indian writer, Sophy Moody, described the coral trade in the structure of a slave narrative. [...] In addition, coral’s protean shapes and ambiguity - rock, plant, or animal? - gave Americans a model for the difficulty of defining essential qualities from surface appearance, a message that troubled biological essentialists [...]. Navakas thus repeatedly brings into view the racialized and gendered meanings of coral [...].

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Some readers from the blue humanities will want more attention, for example, to [...] different oceans [...]: Navakas’s gaze is clearly eastward to the Atlantic and Mediterranean and (to a degree) to the Caribbean [...], even though much of the natural historical explorations, not to mention the missionary interest in coral islands, turns decidedly to the Pacific. [...] First, under my hat as a historian of science, I note [...] [that] [q]uestions about the structure of coral islands among naturalists for the rest of the century pitted supporters of Darwinian evolutionary theory against his opponents [...]. These disputes surely sustained the liveliness of coral - its teleology and its ambiguities - in popular American literature. [...]

My second desire, from the standpoint of Victorian studies, is for a more specific account of religious traditions and coral. While Navakas identifies many writers of coral poetry and fables, both British and American, as “evangelical,” she avoids detailed analysis of the theological context that would be relevant, such as the millennial fascination with chaos and reconstruction and the intense Anglo-American missionary interest in the Pacific. [...] [However] reasons for this move are quickly apparent. First, her focus on coral as an icon that enabled explicit discussion of labor and community means that she takes the more familiar arguments connecting natural history and Christianity in this period as a given. [...] Coral, she argues, is most significant as an object of/in translation, mediating across the Black Atlantic and between many particular cultures. These critical strategies are easy to understand and accept, and yet the word - the script, in her terms - that I kept waiting for her to take up was “monuments”: a favorite nineteenth-century description of coral.

Navakas does often refer to the awareness of coral “temporalities” - how coral served as metaphor for the bridges between past, present, and future. Yet the way that a coral reef was understood as a literal graveyard, in an age that made death practices and new forms of cemeteries so vital a part of social and civic bonds, seems to deserve a place in this study. These are a greedy reader’s questions, wanting more. As Navakas notes [...], the method [...] is to understand our present circumstances as framed by legacies from the past, legacies that are never smooth but point us to friction and complexity.

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All text above by: Katharine Anderson. "Review of Navakas, Michele Currie, Coral Lives: Literature, Labor, and the Making of America." H-Environment, H-Net Reviews. December 2023. Published at: [networks.h-net.org/group/reviews/20017692/anderson-navakas-coral-lives-literature-labor-and-making-america] [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Presented here for commentary, teaching, criticism.]