Poetry & Prose

Dedicated to anything that is thoughtful, beautiful, and has duende. Some original work that may not have any of those things.

[shabbytigers]

this short story just mugged me

[gnossienne]

Mary Oliver, “Wild Geese”

[thewindowofthesummerhouse]

Katy Wiedemann

[loumargi]

Henrik Simonsen (1974, Danish- Germany )

[theartsyproject]

Félix Vallotton, Moonlight, 1894-5.

[worldgowild]

They told us to bite our tongues so we bit We were better seen than heard, We didn't rock the boat We did as we were told We were just lucky we were pretty They said this world of violence, power, and war is ours and we made it in our own image. There is no place for you here. So we bit our tongues They said look how well we treat you. Look how much you have. Why do you want what we have too? Why isn't less than us enough? Bite your tongue, sit down, know your place. Our mothers told us to make sure they felt like men. Make sure we kept them happy. Give them children, give them sex, give them your voice - maybe they will love you. But know your place, don't rock the boat. Our fathers told us that they would hurt us. They said boys will be boys and we know what they're like. We know what they want. We know what we wanted until it was you. Bit your tongue, don't rock the boat. They said they liked us as long as we didn't want too much. They said they loved us as long as we gave ourselves to them. They said they liked us as long as we knew our place.  So we bit our tongues So why didn't you speak up? They screamed. If you wanted change, why didn't you say anything? When we spoke you called us liars, when we cried injustice you told us others had it worse. When we asked for equality you told us we wanted superiority - when we argued our own humanity you said we were crazy.  We wanted to say all of those things. But we stood silent holding our bloody tongues in our hands. You told us to bite our tongues so many times we bit them off.

G.L. (Bite Your Tongue)

[violentwavesofemotion-deactivat]

​“The wild animal removed from its forest home sleeps, dreams of the equator of its birth, trembles in its sleep, its dream of sunlight, weeps.”

Marguerite Duras, from “The Ravishing of Lol Stein,” published c. 1964

[worldgowild]

“The truth about stories is that’s all we are.”

-Thomas King (The Truth About Stories)

[requiem-on-water]

(x)

[aizobnomragym]

Joseph Lorusso

“Soft Eyes”

[aseaofquotes]

Jeanette Winterson, Gut Symmetries

[savagedefectives]

thin places

[alcego]

“They say they give their women more freedom, but there’s still the impression that the freedom was theirs to ‘give’ in the first place.”

— Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

[quoted-books]

“We want to believe that there were better men once. That makes us think it could be that way again. But people don’t change. They are corrupt now. They were corrupt then.”

— Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, Part 1

[asillyandrandomname]

If you come across as mysterious or enigmatic and are somewhat attractive people will try very hard to get to know you and you’ll mistake this as genuine interest in your being but it’s really just selfish curiosity and when the mystery is gone so is the curiosity

[rigaya-deactivated20180901]

Fuck

[word-stuck]

I'm pretty sure that in Spanish, "duende" also means "elf".

Depending on context, Duende could be defined as a spirit, as magic, or as an inspiration. In the concept of Spanish art, it is the ability to attract others through personal magnetism and charm. ‘Duende’ or ‘tener duende’ (“having duende”) loosely means having soul, a heightened state of emotion, expression and authenticity, often connected with flamenco.

The artistic and especially musical term was derived from the duende, a fairy or goblin-like creature in Spanish mythology. It is believed to be a small creature with magical powers, wearing big hats, whistling a mystical song, while walking in the forest. Traditionally, duende refers to a mischievous spirit that inhabits a house.(1920s, from Spanish, contraction of duen de casa, from dueño de casa ‘owner of the house.’)

While originally used to describe a supernatural entity similar to a forest-fairy or sprite, duende is the “mysterious power of a work of art to deeply move a person”

“The duende, then, is a power, not a work. It is a struggle, not a thought. I have heard an old maestro of the guitar say, ”The duende is not in the throat; the duende climbs up inside you, from the soles of the feet.’ Meaning this: it is not a question of ability, but of true, living style, of blood, of the most ancient culture, of spontaneous creation … everything that has black sounds in it, has duende.” 

— Spanish poet and theater director Federico Garcia Lorca, “Juego y Teoria del Duende (Play and Theory of the Duende)” (1933), on which he addressed the fiery spirit behind what makes great performance stir the emotions.

Duende now includes the feeling of profound awe experienced when viewing a piece of art, watching a performance, or listening to a music that has deeply moved a person.

This wonderful word captures an entire world of passion, energy, and artistic excellence and describes a climactic show of spirit in a performance or work of art — enchanting, personal magnetism, charming, magical.

[journalofanobody]

“As the Bacchae knew, we always tear our Gods to bits, and eat the bits we like.”

— Adam Gopnik