#scherezade siobhan

[goreprofonde]

God embodied is

a deadened blade, exists

as a shape subtracted from

its occasion. Once upon

a child, I was splendid

gestalten. A furious

chiaroscuro. In therapy

someone says depression

is when a body turns

into a robbed grave.

- Scherezade Siobhan, Sertraline - I.

[ojo-rojo]

"You asked why I write. I said, to touch what couldn't be spoken".

Scherezade Siobhan, in her book: "Father, husband".

[pidraya]

"I will always be the virgin-prostitute, the perverse angel, the two-faced sinister and saintly woman."-Anais Nin

Eager for affection and for disaster, oscillating between extreme audacity and the most dreadful anguish, as inconceivable on a scale of real beings as a mythical being, she tore herself on the thorns with which she surrounded herself until becoming nothing but a wound, never allowing herself to be confined by anything or anyone.-Georges Bataille

“…every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it.”-Charles Dickens

Wanna make a monster? Take the parts of yourself that make you uncomfortable—your weaknesses, bad thoughts, vanities, and hungers—and pretend they’re across the room. It’s too ugly to be human. It’s too ugly to be you. Children are afraid of the dark because they have nothing real to work with. Adults are afraid of themselves. Oh we’re a mess, poor humans, poor flesh—hybrids of angels and animals, dolls with diamonds stuffed inside them. We’ve been to the moon and we’re still fighting over Jerusalem. Let me tell you what I do know: I am more than one thing and not all of those things are good. The truth is complicated. It’s two-toned, multi-vocal, bittersweet. I used to think that if I dug deep enough to discover something sad and ugly, I’d know it was something true.-Richard Siken

[viperslang]

A wonderful review of my book "That Beautiful Elsewhere".

#BookReview: “That Beautiful Elsewhere: Journeys in Mental Health,” a departure from her previous works, stands as a testament to Siobhan’s capacity for reinvention and her ability to tackle a volatile subject like mental health with courage and self-belief.

[two-bees-poetry]

do u have any poets or writers u look up to? love your work btw, it motivated me to write in a while LOL

I'm so honored that I motivated you to write! In answer to your question, there are SO many writers/poets I look up to:

Dead Writers - Shirley Jackson, Vladimir Nabokov, Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, Angela Carter, Anna Akhmatova, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Anouilh

Alive Writers - Anne Carson (I bow to her) Dante Émile, @boykeats , @blossomfully , C.T. Salazar, Ocean Vuong, @falderalfire on IG, Ollie Schminkey, Naomi Shihab Nye, Margaret Atwood, Beau Taplin, Scherezade Siobhan

And there are probably SO many more who I'm forgetting to mention!

[elisaenglish]

Wishful Sinful

“some days you need god’s grace. on other days—the feral tongue of vintage whiskey and a mouth kissed by fire.”

-Scherezade Siobhan, Rubies-

Peel back the wound. Contrary to where the well runs dry, I have an appetite impure (of thought) and wild reciprocation...

[fannicroy]

Hanif Abdurraqib, They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us

Glennon Doyle, Untamed

Elly Smallwood, Saturn

Meggie Royer, The No You Never Listened To

Volker Hermes, Hidden Duvivier

Athena Nassar, Love Is Not Always Song, but the Swelling

Siobhan Scherezade, Code

Eva Gonzalès, La Toalette

David Levithan, How They Met and Other Stories

Mark Wolynn, It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle

Lisa Feldman Barrett, How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain

Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

The Mountain Goats, Up The Wolves x Jordi Garriga Mora, Minotauro

Kaveh Akbar, Calling A Wolf A Wolf

[89rooms]

here, your name; ghost and god - / a rosary i recite with teeth.

Scherezade Siobhan - 'come palabra,' Father, Husband

[corvidamned]

FIVE SONGS for your muse.

i. Love Me Dead - Ludo: She moves through moonbeams slowly. She knows just how to hold me. And when her edges soften, Her body is my coffin. I know she drains me slowly. She wears me down to bones in bed. Must be the sign on my head, That says, oh Love me dead! Love me dead!

ii. This Is Not An Exit - Duncan Sheik: Maybe this schism, is just a symptom, Of late capitalism. A Savior's died and risen, Of worlds that wouldn't listen, To their own collapse. Even if this story, Is overwrought and gory, It's not a fable, it's not an allegory. No cautionary tale, no memento mori. Or a vague perhaps.

iii. I Would Die 4 U - Prince: I'm not a woman, I'm not a man. I am something that you'll never understand. I'll never beat you, I'll never lie. And if you're evil, I'll forgive you by and by. 'Cause you, I would die for you, yeah. Darlin', if you want me to, you, I would die for you. I'm not your lover, I'm not your friend. I am something that you'll never comprehend. No need to worry, no need to cry. I'm your Messiah and you're the reason why.

iv. Shake the Disease - Depeche Mode: Some people have to be permanently together, Lovers devoted to each other forever. Now I've got things to do, and I've said before, That I know you have too. When I'm not there, In spirit I'll be there. Here is a plea from my heart to you, Nobody knows me as well as you do. You know how hard it is for me to shake the disease, That takes hold of my tongue in situations like these. Understand me.

v. As It Was - Hozier: And in a few days, I would be there, love. Whatever here that's left of me is yours just as it was. Just as it was, baby. Before the otherness came. And I knew its name. The love, the dark, the light, the flame. The eyes at the heights of my baby. Let's hope at the fight of my baby. The lights were as bright as my baby, But your love was unmoved. And tell me if somehow, some of it remained. How long you would wait for me? How long I've been away? The shape that I'm in now, is shaping the doorway. Make your good love known to me. Just tell me about your day. Just as it was, baby. Before the otherness came. And I knew its name. The drugs, the dark, the light, the shame.

FIVE TWELVE QUOTES for your muse.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before ―  Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Strength does not make one capable of rule; it makes one capable of service. ― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings You cannot have both. In war you must always choose sides. One or the other. Silver or black. Human or demon. If you try to be a bridge laid down between them, they will tear you in half. ― Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless I look down at my body and think, No. I will not abandon you. Not yet, not again, not like the rest of them. ― Ashe Vernon, from “For Anyone Who’s Listening,” Not a Girl Part of heroism is being able to see the future and still remain standing. If you don't believe in God or Fate, you still must believe in narrative. ― Richard Siken, Four Proofs “I’ve been trying to go home my whole life—” — Chelsea Dingman, “Psychogeography” “Break often - not like porcelain, but like waves.” — Scherezade Siobhan First love's all right, as far as it goes. Last love, that's what I'm interested in. ― The Edge of Love, 2008 Understand, there are two pains. Pains that try to rob you of your essence and burn you to the ground, and pains that will transform you and give you wings. ― Helaena Moon

If you are so committed to being perfectly lawful that you cannot see the value of breaking a law to defend yourself or others, you’re not good, you’re obedient. ― tumblr user cenkrett “As the image of myself becomes sharper in my brain and more precious, I feel less afraid that someone else will erase me by denying me love.” ― Jenny Slate there's a misconception that grief only happens when we lose people. this is not true. we can grieve circumstances, relationships, missed opportunities. in fact, sometimes when you find yourself plagued with waves of emotion from sadness to melancholy you may be grieving yourself. the version of yourself that you might have been if things had been different, or if only you had said something, or if someone had stood up for you. ― tumblr user blooooom

Tagged by: @manufactoredxbyxdesign @fiercehearts Tagging: @prettytm @gviral @blood-on-my-coat @dcwnthercbbithcle @mxlevolence @red-hemlock @umbrellamedic @stxsis @qu-tipie

[12ozpuddingcup]

“Don’t keep your apologies hungry. Don’t let anyone reduce you to the sum of your mistakes. Refrain from bisecting yourself into the martyr/victim binary. You are neither. You are both. You are so much more. Break often - not like porcelain, but like waves. Make multiples out of your singularity. Bind the rains to your tongue. Find that place in your mouth where a storm darkens. Stand still while this hell handles you. Trust me, you have begun to scare the fire out of its throat. Everything good, kind & compassionate is waiting for you. Within you. Order a large pizza. Go back to Walcott.  Sit. Feast on your life.”

— Scherezade Siobhan

[viperslang]

[ojo-rojo]

“in this moment he folds her within him harbours her hells, her skulking disasters. this, he repeats, is togetherness..."

Scherezade Siobhan in the book: "Father, Husband".

[solipseismic]

2023 poetry rec list

technically a day late but who cares! i don't. it's gonna be a long one this year too despite not having read or written as much poetry as of late; i'm putting my overall fifteen favorite + poetry book recs up here and the rest below a cut to spare your dashboards :)

2024

2022

2021

books:

calling a wolf a wolf (kaveh akbar)

cinema of the present (lisa robertson)

dictee (theresa hak kyung cha)

pilgrim bell (kaveh akbar)

prelude to bruise (saeed jones)

the crown ain't worth much (hanif abdurraqib)

top 15:

abecedarian requiring further examination of anglikan seraphym subjugation of a wild indian reservation (natalie diaz)

about eight minutes of light (robert king)

at luca signorelli's resurrection of the body (jorie graham)

ginen the micronesian kingfisher [i sihek] (craig santos perez)

gods, gods, powers, lord, universe-- (chen chen)

kupu rere kē (alice te punga somerville)

look (solmaz sharif)

ode to the 9,000 year old woman (@/goodbyevitamin)

one art (elizabeth bishop)

petitioning the patron saint of childbirth (danielle boodoo-fortuné)

so mexicans are taking jobs from americans (jimmy santiago baca)

the death loop (jon lovett)

the difficult miracle of black poetry in america: something like a sonnet for phillis wheatley (june jordan)

the madwoman as rasta medusa (shara mccallum)

vocabulary (safia elhillo)

& the gun echoed for centuries; interlude with drug of course; & the light devours us all (yasmin belkhyr)

a brother named gethsemane (natalie diaz)

a map to the next world (joy harjo)

between autumn equinox and winter solstice, today (emily jungmin yoon)

cherish this ecstasy (david james duncan)

coffins (derick thomson)

conflict resolution for holy beings (joy harjo)

failing and flying (jack gilbert)

ginen tidelands [latte stone park] [hagåtña, guåhan] (craig santos perez)

how to be a dog (andrew kane)

i love you to the moon & (chen chen)

i'm sorry birds (@/quezify)

insomnia and the seven steps to grace (joy harjo)

i was sleeping where the black oaks move (louise erdrich)

i watch her eat the apple (natalie diaz)

moth wings and other things (@/grendel-menz)

my father (ollie schminkey)

my soldier, my stranger (scherezade siobhan)

new year's day (joan tierney)

october (louise glück)

praise song for oceania (craig santos perez)

praise the rain (joy harjo)

real estate (richard siken)

sharing a cigarette with joan of arc (dante emile)

song of the anti-sisyphus (chen chen)

table (edip cansever, transl. richard tillinghast)

tear it down (jack gilbert)

temporary job (minnie bruce pratt)

the blue dress (saeed jones)

the lesson of the moth (don marquis)

the universe, as in one last song for the lonely hearts (michelle hulan)

throwing children (ross gay)

untitled (joan tierney)

voices (naomi shihab nye)

when i die i want your hands on my eyes (pablo neruda)

why i am not coming in to work today (jess zimmerman)

wolf moon (nina maclaughlin)

yes, it was the mountain echo (william wordsworth)

[lillyli-74]

I, woman, voltage. Homeless apparition. Partitioned fourways: rib, Eve, apple, viper.

~Scherezade Siobhan

[two-bees-poetry]

Who are your favourite contemporary poets? I've been looking for some more unique recommendations!! Absolutely love your work by the way!

Current favorites are Anne Carson (I bow to her), @orpheuslament, @boykeats , @blossomfully , C.T. Salazar, Ocean Vuong, @falderalfire on IG, Ollie Schminkey, Naomi Shihab Nye, Margaret Atwood, Beau Taplin, and Scherezade Siobhan.

Check them out! :))

[elisaenglish]

“be done. with the guessing games of those who shame you your messes. be done. with anyone you won’t accept your lesions for the lessons they are. be done. with being told how to shroud your scars. be done. with the bidding for a finesse that won’t dress itself a little in the err of your essence.”

-Scherezade Siobhan, Be Done. Begin Again.-

Gift yourself the rictus all you want, but know—I bet I can fuck your melancholy up. All the while, and then some...