Bloody Thoughts and Broken Branches

Prompts are open

[americanpsychoplath]

from Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

[how2forgive]

catching up w ask polly this morning

[rulers-make-bad-lovers]

“The real damage is done by those millions who want to ‘survive.’ The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonising their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.”

— Sophie Scholl (9 May 1921 – 22 February 1943), an anti-Nazi political activist, executed for high treason at the age of 21. (via kuanios)

[havingapoemwithyou]

What will happen by Leila Chatti

[havingapoemwithyou]

Statement of Teaching Philosophy by Keith Leonard

[extollingtheeveryday]

Maggie Dietz, "November" [ID in alt text]

[havingapoemwithyou]

Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale by Dan Albergotti

[havingapoemwithyou]

Eschatology by Eve L. Ewing

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[havingapoemwithyou]

Staying by Ali Shapiro

[lena-oleanderson]

also a poem from the new, unreleased collection. very possibly my own all-time favourite.

[vettel25]

you were soft wool and he was a sacrificial knife, it's not your fault - it's what had to happen

Deaf Republic - Ilya Kaminsky // Still - Noah Kahan // Sun Bleached Flies - Ethel Cain // Their eyes were watching God - Zara Neale Hurston // The sacrificial lamb, Agnus Dei - Josefa de Óbidos // Love in the time of cholera - Gabriel García Márquez // Would've Could've Should've - Taylor Swift

[lilyflxwers]

sources: ophelia, act IV, scene V // traci brimhall, dear eros // unknown // suzanne scanlone, promising young women // destiny, fieldplates gauntlets // camille rankine, emergency management // fatima aamer bilal, being unwanted is a language // unknown

[iwilleatyourenglish]

something i have always found really weird is when english texts italicize words from other languages.

i remember reading a book as a kid and the author continually italicizing the word tamales

[iwilleatyourenglish]

[official-linguistics-post]

official linguistics post

[two-bees-poetry]

[aishespoeticmuse]

[catilinas]

Franny Choi, Soft Science