Living.

metaxy.

[susansleepilyslipsaway]

Being in Love;

The symptoms flicker onto a page across my screen, 

and Web MD smugly unfolds a list in front of me:

Nervous stomach. 

Lack of sleep

Day dreaming with frequency

sweaty palms

Lack of inhibitions

Failing grasp of reality 

I press my fingers to the soft side of my jaw and wait for my pulse to tell me

I skim the list for my symptoms impatiently 

Could it be that I caught something in the air

or someone sighed romantically

in my general direction?

“When we’re in love, we should be quarantined.”

I mumble as I pluck petals off of flowers 

moodily

“Maybe I’m in love,”

“Maybe it’s just indigestion

that’s making me queasy. 

I close out the ominous web page

And sip on my cup of tea

Surely, 

Web MD 

doesn’t know anything. 

[susansleepilyslipsaway]

I feel like a sunporch That’s gotten too much sun And now my wooden floors are peeling up in soft brown curls And my wallpaper is surfacing with freckles.

[susansleepilyslipsaway]

My 2018 resolution..

is to find a small birdhouse with a leak proof roof, 

dry and warm inside, 

and to readdress my mail. 

I’ll move into the small birdhouse with the leak-proof roof 

and watch the seasons change

from inside. 

Because the birdhouse will be so small 

I’ll leave my radio at home

and listen to wind chimes instead

I won’t have much in my small birdhouse home

dry and warm inside,

but I’ll be content. 

[susansleepilyslipsaway]

I want to move to a small house in Brunswick Georgia, 

and I’ll paint all of the walls bright yellow. 

We could adopt a dog

and a small coffee shop

where we go on Saturday’s when we’re not busy

to read 

and dream. 

We could have a small baby 

and do take out on Thursday nights

and worry about the bills together over cups of coffee

but this inbetween stage of not knowing whether you’re the one to do this with or not is frustrating af.

[susansleepilyslipsaway]

A Poem About Citrus During Snowy Weather *inspired by a line about oranges written in a poem by Josiah Bell.

A Poem About Citrus During Snowy Weather *inspired by a line about oranges written in a poem by Josiah Bell.

Lemon is a 6 AM summer morning - the early, golden sort that peaks into your blinds and causes you to squint.

Tangerine is the third cup of coffee - lounging on a summer porch while the humidity hums with drowsy June bugs.

Pomelo and Tangelo are the midnight snacks - sitting on the cold kitchen floor with light from the fridge spilling onto the tile, eating melted strawberry ice cream in 80 degree midnight weather.

Mandarin Satsume is the summer rain - at 3PM spattering the window pains with messy, sloppy kisses.

Panderosa lemon are the summer flowers -growing in the heated haze, staring in at livings rooms soothed by calming ac and quiet ceiling fans.

Grapefruit Bergamot Keylime Clementine Palestinian sweet lime

All these ways to get summer stuck in your teeth and beneath your tongue.

Vivid citrus lined up in bins in grocery produce aisles looking like shades of sunrise and sunset sold by the pound,

reminding us in February chill that somewhere it is summer. And everything smells of sunscreen and citrus.

[susansleepilyslipsaway]

I can remember when you were my sun, my moon, my stars. 

The evening sky was the color of your eyes

and the comets were the brilliance of your smile. 

When we broke up, I called NASA to see how things had altered in the cosmos

and they told me nothing had changed

And the phone line hummed the tone signifying that NASA had bigger things

than heartbroken girls

to spend their time on.

And I saved the tissue boxes from nights when the stars went out

and I built myself a small rocket

of carboard

To see if maybe I could reach the cosmos, 

I could understand if things were really that different

at all. 

And when the rocket met the atmosphere, 

and I stared out into the space 

that we had between us

I saw the moon, the sun, and the stars

all as they had been before

but without your eyes, 

and your smile, 

And I could finally say

with certainty

that my cosmos has become more brilliant without you 

[rabbitinthemeadow]

Tender boughs arch through the fog // Part 7

[ohmycavalier]

[herwordlessness]

Concept: I live in an old creaky cottage with three massive wolfhounds. I wear exclusively long, soft cotton dresses and scratchy sweaters. My glass-walled greenhouse is bursting with all manner of plant life, and the folks from the village come to me for little spells and herbal remedies. The air always smells like rain.

[schuylerpeck]

The witch never sinks her teeth into Hansel’s rosy cheeks, never lays a hand on Gretel’s blue eyes.   The house of confection was just a nest she never found someone to fill with. So, when the kids came, maybe there was something sinister in the way she didn’t go looking through the famine-riddled streets for a body for the kids to call mother, but she fed them spoons of buttercream and taught them the difference bat wings and frog eyes make in a potion.   Is a fairy tale still a fable without the tragedy, still a lesson without the hubris?   The witch saw these two kids and gave them a life: promised them, as any mother would, a happily ever after.

Schuyler Peck, A Fable, Reimagined (2/30)

[theadventureto-be]

Let’s rewind/ wind storm

I only think about you backward,

Me: plucking flowers out of your coat

You: becoming kinder and kinder

until I never knew you at all

[susansleepilyslipsaway]

It was the year that I smelled like coffee, and you had to jump your car every time it wouldn’t start. Your days were heavy with hurt about a father we worried wouldn’t make it, and mine were heavy with the meds they prescribed when I told them I didn’t sleep anymore. We spent our evenings three stories up in a cool apartment with the fan turned on, reading, playing guitar, and eating popcorn. 

I had a dress in my closet, pink and soft, and you had a ring waiting for me. 

It was the year that we were not yet, but so, so, so very complete. 

[liviafalcaru]

[ourcolorfulmoments]

ADVENTURE TIME. From Rachel, Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA: “My favorite adventure was my first solo trip. My boyfriend at the time and I were actually planning on going on our first trip as a couple to the Riviera Maya, but the plans fell through. It was the last straw, and we soon broke up. I had been getting really excited preparing for the trip, so the breakup was especially hard. But, then I realized, who says I couldn’t go on my own? I had never traveled alone before, so the idea was a little scary. But I read up on a lot of articles about solo female travelers and prepared myself, and just decided to do it. It was the best decision ever. I will always remember my first breakfast there, looking out onto the turquoise waves and enjoying my coffee. I was a little lonely at times, but it was still very empowering, and the best way to commemorate my new freedom. One of the best, most healing trips I’ll never forget, especially knowing that I did this for me, all by myself.”

- Follow the project on Instagram!

[minuty]

[leahberman]

sanguine

instagram

[schuylerpeck]

I want so badly to only notice the bees humming from blueberry bushes and rolls baking in the oven– the sweeter things life has to offer.   But the bees are dropping dead and the summers roll on at record highs. It is hard to find peace when you notice how close we are to crumbling.  I am so scared of losing the only place I care about.

Schuyler Peck, With All the Tomorrows Left (via schuylerpeck)