Hello!

Posting anything I feel like! You'll occasionally see my art on here too, but it tends to get buried. I am horrible at replying to people and I'm so sorry about that. she/he/they art blog is mpatelsartings

[bishopony]

my really funny and original concept

[leefi]

[gay-impressionist]

If you are silent about your pain they'll kill you and say you enjoyed it - Zora Neale Hurston

[staticsable]

This is one of those posts where I feel like I'm doing others and myself a disservice by not sharing. I wish someone had shown me this a long time ago.

Maybe I'd be having to do less work to break out of this shell, now.

[cenneidi]

do it grieving

[cenneidi]

do it while the ground falls out from under you; do it while everything you loved goes up in smoke; do it while the dream of your future is still burning embers around you; build anew on the hot ashes of everything you worked for; keep going, keep loving, keep living, even as all you want is to turn back (there is no turning back; it is gone already); do it through grief, which feels like fear in the body

do it grieving

[cenneidi]

The tag I have seen most often on this post is "I needed to hear this," and I am so, so grateful to have said something that was needed. These words came out of the depths of my own grief, and I am so grateful to have made this small connection with others in the midst of it. Grief is isolating and indescribable, but none of us are alone.

That said, these tags were what I needed to hear:

we're all gonna make it

it's okay if you can't see how yet. you don't have to believe in better. for now it is enough to just keep going, and eventually the path will emerge. you are not alone. you are not lost in the woods forever. keep going. I love you.

[goetic-justice]

You guys are always like "being crushed by 10,000 tons of rock probably feels good as hell" or "being torn to pieces by hunting dogs would low key fix me" and I feel like those things would actually be unpleasant.

[goetic-justice]

How about "Drinking an ice cold strawberry milkshake probably feels good as hell". Do you guys like that one.

[reddpropaganda]

My favorite thing is seeing how different translations convey eccentric phrases and figures of speech.

[owny-chan]

au where hes saying all of this at once

[vampire-crimson]

the best part about this image set is that it’s all different frames of the same scene so i like to imagine that he’s running away, saying all of it just for emphasis

[antiqueanimals]

"Freak Antlers of Whitetail"

Lives of Game Animals, Volume 3. 1927. Written and illustrated by Ernest Thompson Seton.

Internet Archive

[lunfio]

galedove... save me galedove...

[cupcraft]

You never know what color pallette someone's Tumblr is till ppl are screenshotting posts and tags

[aropride]

do u like mine

[cupcraft]

Oh wow.

[cupcraft]

Some people on tumblr are reading ancient scrolls and you'd never know

[charl0ttan]

ok are you a guy?

[charl0ttan]

this tweet has been uining me

[fleetwood-mac-andcheese]

[itsbasil]

you put those tags on this post where they belong

[wannakissrobits]

Having to spread this again.

I’m still struggling to pay for food and other necessities, I’m queer, disabled, trans, latino, and currently living under the control of parents that institutionalized me for two years.

I have a massive amount of allergies and food I can eat is often not provided.

Please if you can donate or share I would really appreciate it.

Ko-Fi

CashApp

Venmo

[wannakissrobits]

I need help.

My baby Kitty who I am calling my baby despite the fact he’s 15 which the vet keeps reminding us is “super senior”

He is on his way out, he was diagnosed with leukemia not too long ago. We want to be able to put him down when it gets bad. And we need 160$ for that. Then to take care of his body it’s another 350$ if we want to get his ashes back and we really do. I am tired of begging but this is my baby.

Please spread the word

[doppelgangerleaverite]

can anyone on this gay ass website give me an opinion on which translation of the epic of gilgamesh i should read? ive been wanting to read it for ages but theres a number of common translations and i know translations can make or break a story; i dont want to start with the wrong one

[gilgamesh-enjoyer]

I've read a few so I can offer recommendations! I started with the Sandars translation, which is a good starting point but a pretty early translation. Benjamin Foster's translation is one of my favourites, and the version I read (Second Norton Critical Edition) includes some really interesting discussion essays with it. Andrew George's translation received an update a couple of years ago so is up to date with Foster's translation, though I prefer how the language flows in Foster's.

I would also recommend Gilgamesh Retold by Jenny Lewis for a translation with a more modern poetic take.

[perrenlore]

GILGAMESH TRANSLATION MASTERPOST:

Benjamin Foster’s Gilgamesh condenses all the different tablets we’ve found together to make one cohesive narrative which is way less intimidating and therefore my go-to if you want something that feels cohesive while also sticking very close to the language of the original. 10/10

Andrew George is the most thorough and up-to-date, and sticks as close to the text as you can get. It does, however, separate out all the different tablets, and feels very unedited in its style. Definitely not a “pretty” version. 10/10 cuz he’s a legend and this is the most definitive scholarly edition but don’t start with it.

Maureen Kovacs has a lovely translation with some very interesting footnotes on word choices. Her Ninsun is absolutely incredible and if you want to cry your eyes out over Gilgamesh’s fate that’s the one for you. It’s one step up from Foster’s in terms of poetic-ness but still pretty close to the original. 8/10

Sophus Helle is more poetic than Kovacs but BRILLIANT, one of my favourite Enkidus and his Shamhat is wonderful. Top favourite of all time. This is a very good starting point. 9/10

I wouldn’t recommend Sandars simply because it’s prose, and also condenses the twelfth tablet into a nice tidy ending that doesn’t really work with the Standard Babylonian narrative. 6/10

Lewis’ Gilgamesh Retold is more of a poetic retelling than a translation; it’s beautiful but definitely not a starting point. Sweet and gentle Enkidu though, very charming. 7/10

Stephen Mitchell I’m not a fan of. He smooths the poem out into something tame and very expected. This is my personal bias but I really dislike his Shamhat. His Enkidu and Gilgamesh are also explicitly more like brothers, which is a valid interpretation but also again not one I lean towards. 5/10

Herbert Mason’s Gilgamesh has some stunning moments in it (Enkidu! They do not know you like I know you!) However it is nowhere near the real text BUT closer than Lewis’. Changes the ending of the poem so it’s about Gilgamesh mourning Enkidu rather than mourning his own mortality; a much sadder conclusion with less resolution than in the Standard Babylonian. 7/10

BONUS ROUND:

Derek Hines’ play GILGAMESH is fucking DERANGED guys. Ten Gilgillion out of ten.

[headspace-hotel]

Foster's is my favorite that I've read

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

[evild3ad]

[smsomah]

Cormorant fishing in Yangshuo near Guilin, Guangxi, China. Christian Vaisse

Cormorant fishing is an old tradition in which fishermen use trained cormorants to catch fish.

[pansyfemme]

“never kill yourself” is such a funny phrase to me that i think it’s accidently started working. its like an affrimation. say ‘never kill yourself’ enough times as a joke and maybe you won’t try to kill yourself over minor inconviences anymore

[landmineblogging]

[landmineblogging]

[landmineblogging]

[landmineblogging]

[landmineblogging]

[jesse-is-spiralling]

[nostalgic-teddyy]

old character sketch