dust & ashes

waiting for james ivory to direct my life

[feral-ballad]

Yvonne Caroutch, tr. Gloria Still, from Serving Blood: New Poems by French Women; “The day lowers its head…”

[Text ID: “you have the smell of ancient rains”]

[theoptia]

Fernando Pessoa, from The Book of Disquiet

[theoptia]

Fernando Pessoa, from The Book of Disquiet

[derangedrhythms]

I have always wondered whether everyone’s interior life is as exhaustingly complicated as mine, if everyone is placed, like a white mouse, in the middle of their labyrinthine mind, through which they have to find a path, just one, the true one, while all the others lead to traps with no escape.

Mircea Cărtărescu, Solenoid, tr. Sean Cotter

[metamorphesque]

from a letter by Paruyr Sevak to Sulamitha, July 17, 1961 (translated by Tathev Simonyan)

[metamorphesque]

tanka #1, Tathev Simonyan

[metamorphesque]

"Impossible", Mher Arshakyan (translated by Tathev Simonyan)

[feral-ballad]

Ana Božičević, from Rise in the Fall; “Anxiety of Influence”

[nobrashfestivity]

Alberto Magnelli Composition, 1962 signed and dated 'Magnelli 62' (lower right) oil on canvas 55 x 46cm (21 5/8 x 18 1/8in).

[metamorphesque]

Advice from Dionysus, Shinji Moon

[metamorphesque]

There’s a word in Armenian — արևահամ (arevaham) — that has no direct equivalent in English, yet it carries the warmth of an entire season, both in nature and in one's life.

It’s made of two roots: արև (arev), meaning "sun", and համ (ham), meaning "taste" or "flavor". Together, they form a word that means "sun-flavored", but it’s much more than that. It's a poetic way of describing something that’s been touched, ripened, or enriched by the sun, and carries "the taste", the warmth of the sun within itself.

As Charents wrote: "I love the sun-flavored (arevaham) word of my sweet Armenia."

Alongside արևահամ (“sun-flavored”), we have another luminous word: արևաբույր (arevabuyr). It means “sun-scented”. It is warmth made fragrant. Light made tender and almost tangible.

As Gurgen Mahari wrote: "The fresh morning air, sun-scented (arevabuyr) and rain-flavored, filled my heart with joyful longing."

[mournfulroses]

Rainer Maria Rilke, from a letter featured in Letters to Merline, 1919-1922

[mournfulroses]

J. M. Grosvalet, from her book titled "Sugar Spells," originally published in 2025

[strokeofserenity]

Nelly Sachs, The Seeker: "Enigmas of Night."

[mournfulroses]

Rainer Maria Rilke, from a letter featured in Letters to Merline, 1919-1922

[feral-ballad]

Zeina Hashem Beck, from O; “Ghazal: With Prayer”

[mournfulroses]

Virginia Woolf, from her novel titled "The Waves," originally published in 1931