Scribbles after Midnight

The world will challenge you, so pick up your words, sharpen your wit, and throw back ten fold.

[violentwavesofemotion-deactivat]

George Seferis, from Collected Poems: 1924-1955 (Bilingual Edition); “The Jasmine,” (x)

“Whether it’s dusk                            or dawn’s first light                                                         the jasmine stays                                                                                   always white.”

[navk]

When we think of education, we think of learning, that is the acquisition of new knowledge and materials applied to a context that supports our development and understanding. But what we often do not think about is how the opposite also supports our development, how the adverse (as opposed to the cessation) can also give way to new and unexplored terrain when it comes to our development. We have learnt how to learn, but never how, or more importantly when, we must unlearn so as to progress and adapt to ever-changing social conditions. First, unlearning is different from “not learning”. The latter is a vehicle with no movement, the former is a vehicle that must shed some of its load (not a vehicle moving backwards). In simpler terms, think of learning as getting dressed, and unlearning as undressing. But removing only the layers which are redundant, serve little purpose, or do not benefit a person in their current condition. We must think of unlearning as acquisition and reversal, or a return. The act of checking out knowledge from a library and knowing when to return it when we no longer need it. To unlearn is to adapt, to shed, to confess, and to acclimatize to a changing world. But it is also to better ourselves for our own sakes and not just for that of social benefit. For many, it may be difficult to think of anything that one should need to unlearn. But unlearning is unlike learning in that it is not a universal “one-size-fits-all” curriculum such as those taught in the schools of our youth. Unlearning has more to do with our understanding of social cues and our individual emotional intelligence, and has more to do with our personal selves than we may realize. In that sense, everyone’s “curriculum” or itinerary for unlearning will look vastly different, and will undergo multiple changes perhaps on a daily basis. Unlearning is, or should be, the method in which we self-identify traits, behaviours, and patterns within ourselves which are harmful to us and others around us. It is a journey in betterment and self-realization, a process which has no set timelines or templates, and something that we are (and should be) in total control of always. And perhaps that is what makes the concept of unlearning so difficult and frightening. Because it is self-directed. It is a battle in which we both lose and win and are faced with constant decisions that will test us to our limits. Some decisions will be easy, and many not so much. Unlearning is a process in which we must question ourselves and our conditioning, and whether our thoughts, beliefs, and practices are still relevant, tolerant, accepting, and inclusive of others’ and their spaces. It is not an experience in which others highlight our faults for us to examine and consider, it is one in which we must hold the spotlight upon ourselves and be brave enough, and at the same time vulnerable enough, to consider. How do my actions affect those around me? Am I overly critical or judgmental? Am I partial to a specific race, sex, or creed? Do I favour one kind of friend over another? What are our faults? These are some of the questions we might ask ourselves. But this is not a game of Detective in which we find someone to blame. Blame is counterproductive because it does not guarantee accountability. The only way we can bring change is to admit that something that we had personally known to work or to be acceptable in the past is not as such any longer, and work to change or adjust the habit. Unlearning is the new (unofficial) curriculum of education. It is taking what we know that no longer serves us and returning it to the archives. There may be a time when we must relearn that which we have unlearned, but until that time comes we must be able to trust in our own judgement and character to stow away that which is not mutually beneficial. Today, nations struggle with the concept of unlearning their tragedies and overcoming the lingering demons of their nightmares. Nations struggle with unlearning colonization, the horrors of genocide and famine, and terror. We each struggle with something, but personal (or even collective) struggle does not, and will not, ever justify forcing similar struggle upon someone else. The term “we are only human” is often applied to many scenarios, but let this not be one of them. We, as human beings, are too aligned with our past and we are so convinced that history shall repeat itself that we do not even bother to prove it otherwise. Let us break the cycle and look inward before we look out. Let us unlearn the damage we do to one another, as individuals, communities, and nations. We live in a society that is changing daily. Our core values are being challenged at a much more rapid and constant rate than ever before with the emergence of new standards of social interaction. We are closer and more connected today than we have ever been in the past, and that connection is only bound to grow. As we find more of ourselves in the same crowded room, there is bound to be conflict of some sort arising from some odd corner. But before we begin to shift blame, let us look inward and alter any possible causes of conflict or disaster by correcting ourselves first, so that we may be justified when holding others accountable for their actions. Let us learn to unlearn.

Nav K, Unlearning (via navk)

[amyroko]

http://www.autistichoya.com/p/ableist-words-and-terms-to-avoid.html?m=1

Last updated 7 December 2016. Page created in or before July 2012 (exact date unknown).

BEFORE YOU CONTINUE:

Note that some of the words on this page are actually slurs but many of the words and phrases on this page are not considered slurs, and in fact, may not actually be hurtful, upsetting, retraumatizing, or offensive to many disabled people. They are simply considered ableist (the way that referring to a woman as emotionally fragile is sexist, but not a slur). You’re not automatically a bad or evil person/activist if you have used random language on here, but if you have the cognitive/language privilege to adjust your language, it’s definitely worthwhile to consider becoming more aware/conscious of how everyday language helps perpetuate ableist ideas and values.

For my most recent perspective on linguistic ableism and the reason that this page exists, see this post: Violence in Language: Circling Back to Linguistic Ableism.

Ableism is not a list of bad words. Language is *one* tool of an oppressive system. Being aware of language – for those of us who have the privilege of being able to change our language – can help us understand how pervasive ableism is. Ableism is systematic, institutional devaluing of bodies and minds deemed deviant, abnormal, defective, subhuman, less than. Ableism is *violence.*

This list has been compiled and changed over time with input from many different disabled people, people with disabilities, self-advocates, d/Deaf and hard of hearing people, people with chronic illnesses, sick people, mad people, neurodivergent people, etc. – and I am always responsive to suggestions from folks who are directly impacted.

***

Note from 16 June 2013:

This page has received tens hundreds of thousands of pageviews since it launched, and has been simultaneously the subject of a number of angry and accusatory comments and letters as well. I never wrote an introduction to this page before, so I’m going to take the time to briefly do so now. The most frequent accusations that I receive in response to this page can fall into three general accusations that I am a) attempting to police everyone’s language, b) obsessed with being politically correct, and or c) extremely hypersensitive to imagined insults and slights. I contend that none of these accusations are true.

Language is inherently political. Both as individuals and as larger social and cultural groups, it is self-evident that the language we use to express all sorts of ideas, opinions, and emotions, as well as to describe ourselves and others, is simultaneously reflective of existing attitudes and influential to developing attitudes.

The terms that are listed below are part of an expanding English-language glossary of ableist words and terms. I have chosen to include words or phrases that I know of or that are brought to my attention that meet two criteria: 1) Their literal or historical definition derives from a description of disability, either in general or pertaining to a specific category of disability, and 2) They have been historically and or currently used to marginalize, other, and oppress disabled people.

The rationale for including some of these words may be readily apparent to many visitors as meriting inclusion on this list, such as for “retarded” and “invalid.” For others, however, there may be the lingering suspicion that I have opted to be overinclusive and thus, extremely hypersensitive and obsessed with being politically correct. The reason that I have listed words that may not readily come to mind when asked to consider “insults and slurs targeting disability” is precisely because so much of this ableist language is utterly pervasive both in everyday colloquy and formal idiom with hardly any notice or acknowledgement, even by fellow disabled people not using the language as part of any reclamation project. On that note, the list is not intended to condemn or scold disabled people who use any of the words included in the spirit of reclamation or as self-descriptors.

Its primary purpose is to serve as a reference for anyone interested in learning about linguistic microaggressions and everyday, casual ableism. And to the observation that some of the terms offered as alternatives carry analogous meanings, I have stated that the reason some words are included while others are not is because some words have oppressive histories and others do not. For example, the word “dumb” has a disability-specific history (referring to people who cannot speak, and often used to refer to Deaf people), whereas the word “obtuse” does not (deriving from a meaning of “beating against something to make it blunt or dull”).

Granted, there will always be folks, disabled or not, who will disagree with the existence, purpose, and or scope of this glossary for a variety of reasons. This brief essay is not intended as a thorough examination of and response to every possible criticism, which would merit an entire series of essays to adequately discuss. My hope is that the glossary will continue to serve as a resource for those interested in its purpose and contents, and that criticisms of this page might now be more nuanced and more informed, given this background and explanation.

+ As a side note, it should be obvious to most readers that political correctness has little, if anything, to do with basic human decency and respect for others, and my primary concern is, in fact, basic human decency and respect for others. Also note that I emphatically insist on referring to myself and my community as autistic, which is assuredly not the politically correct terminology.

++ As another side note, it is my intention to eventually expand the entries on this page to either further explain each term’s history and or to link to other pages, such as the Ableist Word Profiles from Forward: Feminists with Disabilities (FWD), that have already done so.

Glossary of Ableist Phrases

This is a list of ableist words and terms for reference purposes. Some of the entries are slurs, some are descriptions of disabled people or other people with pathologized identities/bodies/experiences, some are slang that derive from ableist origins, and some are common metaphors that rely on disability and ableism. There are also many terms or phrases that are ableist when used together, but are not on this list (like “afflicted with symptoms of [disability]” or “living with physical challenges” or “incapable of managing their behavioral health needs”), because the words taken apart do not have a disability-specific history or current meaning.

This is a living document, constantly growing, expanding, and changing. If I’ve missed something, please let me know!

One important note: Many people who identify with particular disabilities or disability in general may use descriptors from this list in an act of reclaiming the language. You may well too! BUT if you do not identify with a particular disability/disabled identity, it’s probably appropriative to use some of those terms. (Some examples are mad and crip.)

After the list of ableist words and terms, I have included lists of alternatives to ableist slurs, descriptions, and metaphors, if you’re interested in unlearning the patterns of linguistic ableism in your own language.

Barren Refers to people who are infertile, carries sexist connotations as well as ableist ones.

Blind to ____ / turn a blind eye to ____ / blinded by ignorance/bigotry/etc. Refers to Blind, low-vision, or sight-limited people.

Bound to a wheelchair (wheelchair bound) Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities.

Confined to a wheelchair Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities.

Crazy Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.

Cretin Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.

Cripple/Crippled (by ____) Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities.

Daft Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.

Deaf-Mute Refers to Deaf or hard of hearing people.

Deaf to ____ / turn a deaf ear to ____ / etc. Refers to Deaf or hard of hearing people.

Derp (also herp-derp and variations) Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.

Diffability Can refer to any person with a disability, and is usually a euphemistic phrase to avoid saying “disability” or “disabled.”

Differently abled or different abilities Can refer to any person with a disability, and is usually a euphemistic phrase to avoid saying “disability” or “disabled.”

Dumb Refers to d/Deaf or hard of hearing people, people with speech-related disabilities, or people with linguistic or communication disorders or disabilities.

Feeble-Minded Refers to people with mental, psychiatric, intellectual, or developmental disabilities.

Handicap(ped) Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities, and is usually a euphemistic phrase to avoid saying “disability” or “disabled.”

Handicapable Usually refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities, but can also mean any person with a disability.

Harelip Refers to people with cleft-lip palate or similar facial deformities/cosmetic disabilities.

Hearing-Impaired Refers to d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing people.

Hermaphrodite Refers to people with intersex conditions, whether or not they were coercively assigned to a particular sex/gender, and whether or not they currently identify with a binary gender.

Idiot(ic) Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.

Imbecile Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.

Insane or Insanity Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.

Invalid (as a noun, as in “my neighbor is an invalid and never goes outside”) Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities or chronic health conditions.

Lame Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities.

Loony/Loony Bin Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.

Lunatic Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.

Madhouse/Mad/Madman Refers to an institution housing people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.

Manic Refers to someone with bipolar (used to be called manic depression).

Maniac Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.

Mental/Mental Case Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.

Mental Defective Refers to people with mental, psychiatric, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities.

Midget Refers to little people or people with small stature or a form of dwarfism.

Mongoloid Refers to people with intellectual disabilities and specifically Down Syndrome. Derives from a double-whammy of racism AND ableism, from the belief that people with Down Syndrome look like people from Mongolia.

Morbidly obese (or just obese) Refers to fat people/people of size. It’s okay to use the word “fat.”

Moron(ic) Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.

Nuts Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.

Psycho Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.

Psychopath(ic) Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.

Psycho(tic) Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.

Retard(ed)/[anything]-tard (examples: libtard, fucktard, etc.) Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.

[you belong on the] Short-bus/ that’s short-bus material/etc. Refers to people with intellectual, learning, or other mental disabilities.

Simpleton Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.

Spaz(zed) Refers to people with cerebral palsy or similar neurological disabilities.

Specially Abled Can refer to any person with a disability.

Special Needs Usually refers to people with learning, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, but can mean any person with a disability. Usually a euphemistic phrase to avoid saying “disability” or “disabled.”

Stupid Refers to people with intellectual disabilities (i.e. “in a stupor”).

Suffers from ____ Can refer to any person with a disability.

Wacko/Whacko Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.

The term “impairment” is sometimes acceptable and sometimes not. Blind, low-vision, and limited-sight people generally find “visual impairment” or “vision impairment” offensive. Likewise, d/Deaf and hard of hearing people generally find “hearing impairment” offensive. Other disability communities use the word commonly, as in, “learning impairment,” “cognitive impairment,” or “functional impairment.” Your mileage may vary.

________________

Non-ableist language: Always respect an individual person’s preference for identifying or describing themself, even if that is not what the majority in a community prefers. Again, as above, not every person with every disability is personally upset or hurt by every term on this list, even ones that reference their specific disability. That’s why this list is meant as a learning/awareness/consciousness tool, not a litmus test or a censorship guide.

Instead of an ableist word or phrase, perhaps you actually meant to say… (more invective replacements that use profanity/swears are included at the very bottom in a separate list)

Asinine Bad Bleak Boring Bullish Callous Careless Confusing Contemptible Coward Crappy Dense Devoid of _____ Disgusting Dull Enraged Evil Extremist Furious Gross Horrible Ignoramus Ignorant Impolite Inane Incomprehensible Inconsiderate Inconsistent Infuriating Insensible Insipid Irrational Jerk Lacking in _____ Livid Mean Nasty Nefarious Nonsense Nonsensical Obtuse Outrageous Overwrought Paradoxical Pathetic Petulant Pissant Putrid Rage-inducing Reckless Ridiculous Rude Scornful Self-contradictory Shameful Solipsistic Spurious Terrible Tyrannical Unbelievable Unconscionable Unheard of Uninspired Unoriginal Unthinkable Unthinking Vapid Vile Vomit-inducing Without any _____ whatsoever Wretched

For describing people with disabilities/disabled people in general: Disabled Has a disability With a disability With a chronic health condition Has a chronic health condition Neuroatypical Neurodivergent

For describing people on the autism spectrum: Person/people on the autism/autistic spectrum Autistic person/people Person/people with autism Aspie/Autie (note – this term is often only really used by people who claim it, and often not by many politically autistic people)

For describing people with intellectual disabilities: With an intellectual disability Has an intellectual disability With a cognitive disability Has a cognitive disability

For describing people with sensory disabilities: Blind Low vision Deaf Hard of hearing DeafBlind DeafDisabled

For describing people with physical or mobility disabilities: With a physical disability With a mobility disability Uses a wheelchair In a wheelchair Uses crutches Uses a cane Uses a walker Has/With [specific condition here]

Possible Replacement Insults Using Swears/Profanity (directly below) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Asshat Asshole Fucker Fuckface Half-assed Shitty

(I know a lot of people who align with feminist, womanist, and other anti-oppression politics have conflicting feelings about the term “douchebag” and its variations like “douchecanoe,” “douchehat,” etc. Some think it’s fine because vaginas can naturally clean themselves without douching, but others think it’s misogynistic in general because a douche is something women use, and others think it’s transmisogynistic specifically because transwomen with constructed vaginas may need to use a douche because theirs won’t clean naturally. This was probably a lot of TMI. Sorry about that. TL;DR, douche- and variations are disputed as to whether they’re okay or not, and there are valid reasons.)

[navk]

she told me that blue was for sky. so every time she fell into blue i pictured she fell into the sky. and all the while i had been on the ground and could not help her. when she crawled out of the sky she would speak of the sun, speak of its warm caress and would ask me of the trees. did you climb a new one? the highest one you could find to reach me? did you drink from the ocean when you thought of me? yes. yes. yes. the answer was always yes. for her, only yes. and some days she asked the hard questions. but why did you not send me a message with the birds? because even the birds could not reach you. because even in all my honesty i could not tell her that birds swam in the sky, and that their clumsy wings were no good for someone drowning. they were simply not strong enough. on days she would visit, further and further apart, she would bring me a little puff of cloud nursed in the palm of her hand. what does it look like? the colour red, i’d say some days. or the breathlessness of the wind after it’s circled the globe. i was never sure if she was looking for a particular answer, if there was something she wanted to hear. always, she would smile, ruffle my hair, point to a tree, and watch me climb. gradually, blue became bluer. became a shade of blue so blue, it was barely blue anymore. she spoke of the sun less. we never spoke of trees. her puffs of cloud looked like wisps of smoke. i drank more frequently from the ocean those days, every chance i got to remember her. her smile, more faint. the sky more distant. the birds fewer in the sky. yet every so often, when i press my ears to the wind, i can hear in an empty canvas of sky the unmistakable flapping of wings.

naveed k. / blue was for sky (via navk)

[twothirtyam]

contrasts i’ve beckoned to the light and it shone bright enough to create a shadow i’ve fallen for so irreparably it has become my home.

[dictionaryofobscuresorrows]

“Life is short. And life is long. But not in that order.”

Zenosyne: The Sense That Time Keeps Going Faster

[dictionaryofobscuresorrows]

Beautiful new words to describe obscure emotions

John Koenig loves finding words that express our unarticulated feelings -- like "lachesism," the hunger for disaster, and "sonder," the realization that everyone else's lives are as complex and unknowable as our own. Here, he meditates on the meaning we assign to words and how these meanings latch onto us.

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is now on the front page of TED.com!

[navk]

There is an inexplicable kind of bliss in the metamorphosis of friends from strangers. The emotions are, at times, even more inexplicable when certain circumstances cause the reverse. Her friend saw me first. She turned her head to look from the other side of the drugstore window as I stood waiting for my payment to process. I wanted to smile, perhaps even wave. Something. Anything. But her eyes were devoid of any real emotion. Anything I had to offer seemed unwelcome, unwanted. So I offered nothing. I can attest to a time when certain exchanges between our eyes would be locked in what always seemed like an eternity. It was a time when the loudest words were spoken through dilated pupils and laugh lines deep as canals in our skin. Some of those canals, we later learned, would actually flood with unseasonal rainfall. But while time seemingly stood still, we did anything but. Together we were fearless conquerors of the world and each other; we discovered entire new multiverses previously unknown to humankind. Eternity came and passed in a moment, with entire lifetimes spanning within each. Between every fall of her lashes, a birth and a death. She used to be a star; incandescent yet ominous. A collection of energies my body could not wholly interpret or understand but admired anyway. She was present, like fresh coats of paint. Toxic, and equally intoxicating. All until her layers began to dry and peel in alarming crusts of white and gray gray gray. She was a dying star. And I suppose I was the supernova. It’s complicated. But it doesn’t have to be. Perhaps it’s better, safer, preferred - to be reduce one another to absolute strangers. Perhaps, but perhaps not. But I had never known the true length of a second in her presence until that moment, as we both stood on opposite sides of the glass, completely disconnected. We perhaps could not be more alien to one another. How strange for a second to last now only a second. How quiet our eyes have become in the midst of all the noise. How distant her side of the glass from my own. There is an inexplicable kind of bliss in the metamorphosis of friends from strangers. And I will never understand the reverse.

Nav K (via navk)

[tristamateer]

[phoenixpoetics]

Things we stole (with no intention of returning): minutes; time elapsed not in seconds but breaths, the inflation of lungs with something sweeter than air, an ephemeral etherea that dissipated altogether like the fog of morn glances; your eyes were my eyes, held within my own like a precious gem one only parts with in death, we peered into one another with a fond anticipation of finding something -anything, what-exactly-we-hadn’t-a-clue -worth keeping for eternity breath; in case my lungs collapsed I carried the comfort of knowing that I could always breathe through yours, and vice versa, until that which we breathed in should itself become too heavy for us both to bear fire; two flames each, extinguished, one in the center and one further below, how we revelled to be engulfed by this, to be ravaged by this, to be destroyed by this lightning; a storm often brewed in my throat, but you had always managed somehow to kiss it back into sedation, pressing lips to fury like a blade of grass braving against sharpened steel, you took from me this fury and used it instead to spark the light in our eyes, ever shining a beacon signalling home

Azra Elle Phoenix (via phoenixpoetics)

[twothirtyam]

Old Lover Old Friend

Old Lover Old Friend

A free spirit my love; that is what you are. You roam free where the music plays, and dance while the wind hugs you at the hips and sways you into a song. You glide so beautifully into a room even when the anger pools at the bottom of your feet and you tap the earth like drums. I’ve seen you broken & shattered in the sharpest of pieces even your mother could not hold you together for the day;…

View On WordPress

[twothirtyam]

1119 - 0507

1119 – 0507

What can i do to change? Where do i go? Which road should i take? What’s my purpose, influence, reason?

Is it to avoid the same mistakes, or to make so many of them my life can fill up 5 albums of stories? Is it to discover or is it to learn? Perfecting skills or gaining new habits?

Where do i want to go?

Do i want to go there alone?

Do I want my companion?

Does my companion want to accompany me?…

View On WordPress

[vodkakilledtheteen]

I wrote this a long time ago in my journal & thought you might like it

and you were right :)

[lora-mathis]

I’m meeting boys who like Charles Bukowski and they all want to do brutal things to my body. They tell me they buy a bottle of whiskey whenever they get one of his books and don’t stop reading till they’ve gone through a pack of cigarettes. They blow smoke in my face and say, “He was the outcast king of L.A. Did you know that, huh?” “Yeah, yeah, I know.” I say,“He’s great.” A new boy gives me a worn copy of On the Road and thinks he’s being original. “We should explore the road together. Would you like that, baby?” I take a sip of my water and look away. Yes, I’d like that, I think. But he’s drunk and imagining himself sixty years earlier, in the back of a bar, sweating to the sound of live bop. Still, I prefer him to the hungry boy that devoured my shirt and said, “You have a tattoo? What’s it say?” ‘mad to live?’ What, are you angry about living? Aw, I’m just kidding, come here, let me take off that bra.” The next boy I kiss doesn’t read. I ask him to come to a bookstore with me and he stays outside, sighing. He has no interest in words. He has no interest in me. I am thankful for him. For a few weeks, I am able to shed my habit of thinking obsessively and become a duller, rougher version of myself. I dump him when my fingers start turning imaginary pages in my sleep. I go on a date with a boy who knows I like to write. He calls himself a fan of mine and swears he’s read every word I’ve put down. “You’ve got this voice that’s very modern, but also so classic.” I choke on my water as he says, “I read you to fall asleep.” At night, I listen to him pant metaphors and compare my mouth to the sea. One day, he stumbles across my journal and finds nothing about himself in it. “You don’t really love me, do you?” I shake my head. There is no use pretending anymore. He has read my poems about the boys I want to drown in me. His goodbye leaves my hands covers in ink. He wanted me so badly to be the sea, when all I am is a girl who writes poetry. I try my best to become poetry. I take a bath and stain the water with black ink. I cut my hair in a motel sink. I cry for people I have never met. I start smoking cigarettes. I use words like “presumptuously” and talk about “post-modernist new wave.” I walk the streets at 4 a.m. and smile at people coming home from a rave. I wear sunglasses indoors. I carry a 500 page volume of poems wherever I go. I drink coffee instead of water. I talk about the “advantages of using film and listening to records.” But no matter how hard I try, I am not the sea. I am a sunken ship that has drowned in everyone who touched me.

I Am Not The Sea | Lora Mathis   (via goghst)

[larmoyante]

List of Words to Know #24

Words to know that don’t exist in the English language (part VI)

Fernweh (German) - feeling homesick for a place you’ve never been to

Komorebi (Japanese) - the scattered, dappled light effect that happens when sunlight shines through trees

Pochemuchka (Russian) - a person who asks too many questions

Gökotta (Swedish) - to wake up early in the morning with the sole purpose of going outside to hear the first birds sing

Aware (Japanese) - the bittersweetness of a brief and fading moment of transcendent beauty

Tsdundoku (Japanese) - the act of leaving a book unread after buying it, typically leaving it in a pile of other unread books

Shlimazl (Yiddish) - a chronically unlucky person

Waldeinsamkeit (German) - the feeling of being alone in the woods

Hanyauku (Rukwangali) - the act of walking on tiptoes across warm sand

other words to know

[writingsforwinter]

How to Love Someone with Anxiety

Sometimes their days will feel less like the space

between a sunrise and a sunset

and more like the space between the words body

and body bag.

Sometimes it is so lonely constantly feeling

like no one else is lonely too.

You can’t always be that person

who bends over backward for them so far

that your spine crushes itself into powder

like the cocaine they once used

to calm their nerves.

But you can keep your finger off the trigger

just long enough to reassure them

that the safety is always on.

When they shake so hard

that every icicle on the roof rattles,

you can be the one who removes one

from the gutters and keeps it in the freezer

until next winter, when you can take it out

and show them, can say

this made it through the year just like you.

Sometimes, children grow up

among wolves. They learn how to snarl

and hide in the shadows.

It’s just their form of protection.

So whatever you do,

never make the mistake of forgetting

that the one you love is human too.

[khalbali]

favorite poetry books ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

milk and honey - Rupi Kaur

salt - Nayyirah Waheed

nejma - Nayyirah Waheed

bone - Ysra Daley-Ward

teaching my mother how to give birth - Warsan Shire