Harsher Than Fiction

aesthetic and poetic fragments. Sometimes I post original poetry

[whaile]

late summer / early fall thoughts

[havingapoemwithyou]

Marriage by Lawrence Raab

[homoquartz]

i’ve warmed up significantly towards the concept of small talk ever since i learned that its sole purpose is to make friendly noises.

as long as you smile and nod, people are satisfied. it’s just to show that you are nice and there with good intentions. we’re small in a big world and have to rely on other people to be decent to us. so we do our little human dance to each other to say, “i’m not here to hurt you. here’s something we have in common, like the weather or sports or itchy sweaters, so we both know we’re on the same team. we both agree on a basic fact, like that it is rainy or that being itchy is uncomfortable, and this proves we can get along. i’m being light-hearted and non-threatening right now.”

small talk isn’t to get to know a person. it’s just a greeting to affirm you’re buddies in the universe.

i am motivated by wanting the other person to know i am friendly, so i have gotten pretty decent at small talk when i used to hate it.

[piratedgender]

[themisally]

[havingapoemwithyou]

Winter Without You by Sarah Kay

[weltenwellen]

Hanif Abdurraqib, "Glamor on the West Streets / Silver Over Everything"

[apoemaday]

Scientific Method

by James Tadd Adcox

Picture the ocean. No. Picture the entire thing, all at once. You are not doing it. It’s okay. One day something terrible will happen, and I will not be prepared.

[paper-wounds]

“If I Am Killed For Simply Living” — Althea Davis

[kosmogrl]

margaux paul

[havingapoemwithyou]

above everything by David Ignatow

[apoemaday]

Shadow

by Margaret Atwood

Someone wants your body. What’s the deal? Beg, borrow, buy, or steal? Gutter or pedestal? That’s how it is with bodies that someone wants.

What’s it worth to you? A rose, a diamond, a cool million, a joke, a drink? The fiction that this one likes you?

You could bestow it, this body, like the generous creature you are, or blackout and have it snatched and you’d never know.

Kiss it goodbye, the body that was once yours. It’s off and running, It’s rolled in furs, it’s dancing or bleeding out in a meadow.

You didn’t need it anyway, it attracted too much attention. Better with only a shadow.

Someone wants your shadow.

[luckydiorxoxo]

[thefirstlivingart]

This isn't how life is supposed to feel

irsshawty on Pinterest / I Saw The TV Glow / internetfavorite on Pinterest / kiyogakukai on Pinterest / Spotify on Pinterest / ladycranes on Pinterest / micheallasboard on Pinterest / Ryan O'Connell / norhanelhadry474 on Pinterest / @inanotherunivrse on Tumblr / ??? / Charles Wright, Scar Tissue in "Scar Tissue" / Barbara Kingsolver, The Lacuna / Priyer on Pinterest / vangore on X / perfumebathing on Instagram / marvinandrea89 on Pinterest / @hannahlockillustration on Tumblr / stickybaby on We Heart It / lesedimorapeli25 on Pinterest / Jnkskxm on Pinterest / Jeff Vandermeer, Annihilation / Fernando Pessoa, "English Song", A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe: Selected Poems / Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness / MrsandMrStyles on Pinterest / Chuck Palahniuk / justgiveittime on Pinterest / Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 6: 1955-1966 / Mary Macdonald, romanticizeaquietlife on Pinterest / Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl /

I accidentally deleted my credits while creating this & struggled to find the original creators again as I had already downloaded all of this content. Some of the credits are towards the original creators, but some are just references to where I was able to find the content after deleting my original credits. Please feel free to correct any of my credits if you see one that is incorrect 🫶🏼

[opiumvampire]

this one. fuck this poem.

[whitefireprincess]

CLOE

[softwaring]

by tucker

[mezothelioma]

Much

[havingapoemwithyou]

The list by Richard Siken

[laureliar]

Starbucks is laying off around 900 non-retail employees and closing some U.S. and Canadian stores as it focuses more of its resources on a t