betweenthetimeandsound

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I am alone amongst demons, with glistening teeth and intoxicating moonlight. A drop of blood is enough

to provoke whole packs into consuming each other, until they only drink bile and muddy water.

The taste of loneliness has a certain sweetness from which death could mimic with its potions and pomegranates. But in the cold of midwinter, my eyes have to ignite, lest nobody else would.

Seraphine Saintclair, “Dead Starlight”

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--prompt from @two-bees-poetry (6 June)

I cradle the king's head, like Judith holds Holofernes'. I thread bloodied curls, and am glad they aren't mine. But haven't you said that I should care more, and offer an ice cube. --Elda Mengisto

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What a pretty song! It's really cute and sweet.

Eurovision 2009 - Number 36 - Noa & Mira Awad - "Bo'i Lirkod Iti"

This is going to be a tricky one.

The 18th of January 2009 saw the end of what is called (now) either the First Gaza War or the Battle of al-Furqan or the Gaza Massacre. It had been an invasion of Gaza by the IDF, not in response to an act of terrorism as with the events of October 7th 2023, but as part of a series of escalating tit-for-tat exchanges between Israel and Hamas beginning in 2008 after the IDF moved into Gaza to destroy a smuggling tunnel.

By that date in January, there were over 1,000 dead Palestinians, 13 dead Israelis, mass destruction and homelessness in Gaza and Israel being accused of a wide variety of war crimes by the various UN investigations that took place subsequently.

A week before the end of the conflict, the IBA announced Israel's representatives at Eurovision would be Achinoam Nini, better known as Noa, alongside Mira Awad. Mira Awad is of Palestinian origin. She'd actually taken part in an Israeli national final prior to this, finishing in last place in Kdam 2005. At the time of the announcement, Israel was under huge international pressure to stop its actions in Gaza as a humanitarian crisis of unimaginable magnitude unfolded. This time, Israel blinked.

What hadn't been decided was what song they would sing, and to this end a televised song selection show was broadcast in March to pick one of four songs, all written by Noa, Mira, and Noa's longtime song-writer partner Gil Dor. All the songs were to some extent about peace, unsurprisingly.

One of those songs was בואי לרקוד איתי (Bo'i Lirkod Iti/Will You Dance With Me). Like most of the songs, including the one that was selected, it was in a mix of English, Hebrew and Arabic. This marks the first time that not only was a Palestinian singer representing Israel, but the first time that Arabic appeared in a song that Israel sent to Eurovision. You'll see that the subtitles are in both Hebrew and Arabic depending on what language is being sung at the time.

It's tempting to see this as part of a PR campaign to rehabilitate Israel's international image, and Mira certainly faced a lot of criticism in Palestine and Israel for doing this. She still does. The IBA though was the national broadcaster who had to speak to all segments of Israel's society. They had channels both for Arabic speakers and for the IDF. In a country where neutrality is impossible, they attempted to be as neutral as they could be and to cater to their divided audience. Picking peace songs sung by an Israeli and a Palestinian-Israeli at this time is very much what the IBA would do.

Bo'i Lirkod Iti, is a waltz. A dance between two cultures, weaving around each other equally and delicately. It is simple and beautiful and courteous in the way waltzes are, each side giving way in turn to the other, each side saying the same thing in their own language.

In retrospect, it feels hopelessly naïve, or at best, an expression of a dying hope for the two sides of Israel/Palestine to be able to live alongside one another without violence. Particularly, the repeated line in the chorus feels devastating both in light on recent events but also the events of December 2008 and January 2009

One-two-three, two-two-three, You and me, still alive

It's a song that represents the dying embers of a dream of calm and stability dreamt by a group of people in denial of the scale of the ambitions and anger of those around them. It's idealistic in a direct contrast to the realism of Teapacks in 2007

This song is here partly because it's pretty and I like it, but partly because this shows not what face the IBA were showing the international community watching Eurovision, but what the IBA were showing to Israel itself. They still hoped for better.

At the national final, the song finished second of the four overall, but it won the Israeli public vote. This is what Israeli people in 2009 wanted to represent them in Europe. You and Me. Still Alive.

Mira remains idealistic. She'd hoped to open a door to peace in 2009, but that was not to be. She has spoken out against the violence post 2023, but given her status as a peacemaker and as a Palestinian Israeli living in Israel, she's been attacked by all sides as her world is buried under rubble and has largely remained silent by necessity. Noa has been far more outspoken against Israel's actions, Netanyahu's policies, and expressed solidarity with Palestinians under assault.

Noa and Mira sang together again in December 2023, two months after the Hamas assault in October. This was in Berlin alongside Gil Dor and the Berlin Philharmonic. Who says Eurovision isn't political?

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This is quite an interesting poem! More so because Henry's Six Wives have taken so much of the cultural imagination, including a musical!

Balancing the Scales of History and Truth - Rachel Brace

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Check out my masterlist to read the rest of my poetry!

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Peace

Peace is like a pure gardenia, blooming out in the sunlight. It gives to those who are willing to lend its beauty to others and use it for good.

However, our choices, our violent, choices makes this peace almost impossible. Blood tears the gardenia, and cries of agony bleeds it. The grenades uproot it, leaving it to die amidst the shot, blown up parts of houses and people and glass.

And I am alone, looking at that gardenia in my hand. --Elda Mengisto

Author's Note: This is a poem I've written ~10-15 years ago; I really liked writing message poems and this was one of them. I'm posting it now as a response to the U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear sites; hopefully this will be the end of American military involvement (especially as Congress hasn't declared war), and negotiations will continue between all parties.

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--prompt from @flashfictionfridayofficial

Iodine ran in the rain with an awkward gait, her otherwise puffy hair only transformed into a stormcloud in this sudden cloudburst. Her hood lay askew between her shoulders, and she let her hamsa necklace skip across her sweater. By the time she got back to the Line doorway, she stared at the drops falling all over the concrete, as Enna Karpenko sauntered with her hands at her stomach.

"What took you so long, Iodine?" She asked, shielding the disdain at the girl's appearance with her slight smile. Iodine replied with shaking her head back, leaving her right face partially covered before she followed Enna into the abyss.

"I do have a life, you know."

"So does everybody who makes their home and loses it."

Iodine looked at the escalator dragging her down towards the next floor, before Enna grabbed her hand and gestured her to an unmarked door. The fluorescent light bounced on the small window and ricochet its light a bit, but Enna rose her hand up as she cracked open the door. Iodine noted the dust particles dancing in the air, only illumined for the smallest bits.

She remained fixated at that moment, turning back to the door as they made their way down the stairs. Only when did she miss a step did she focus her gaze on the descent, from which she tumbled down and felt her ankle twist.

"It could've been worse," Enna commented, letting Iodine lament in her pain.

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--prompt from @thepathetickind

Thunderstorms come and go, rinsing the world of cherry blossom petals and sweet wine. Endurance is granted to those who heard the agonizing cries in the alpine wilderness. Only the scent of fresh blood remains for the living to indulge in; flesh is a luxury, lost to a flood of clumsy hands, those who only know sin. Between lonesome dreams, I awaken to a world of betrayers; a knife is gold and a heart is silver. From a grotto of jewels, all collapses, and I unfold. Now that I'm wet, I consume sweet sorrow, not knowing if I shall meet tomorrow. --Elda Mengisto

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Sacred fruit

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/06/14/mexican-flag-california-protest/

"So, when someone waves the Mexican flag in the streets of L.A., it strikes a nerve. But maybe what unsettles people isn’t the flag itself; it’s what it reveals. It confronts us with a complexity we still struggle to accept: that being American doesn’t require being less of anything else. That pride in your roots doesn’t cancel your claim to this country. That loving where you are doesn’t mean forgetting where you’re from."

Here's a thoughtful analysis of the multitude of Mexican flags in the LA protests. It's especially interesting considering that today (the article was published two days earlier) is the tenth anniversary of the start of Trump's cursed campaign, in which he used Mexican immigrants as a scapegoat for all of the U.S.' problems.

The general thesis about trying to balance between belonging in one country and still being proud of your roots intrigues me. I see myself as an American of Ethiopian decent, which is a fact, and nothing more. How do you find pride between two different worlds?

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There is a world where both Iranians and Israelis could travel to each other's nations and enjoy each other's cultures.

I would love to see it happen.

But first, there must be peace.

Hello people in israel and Iran

Please do not die

Please stay safe

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The radicals make some of the elements quite intuitive, haha! And gold gets its own character which leads to all the metals.

The Chinese periodic table

In Chinese, every element has a monosyllabic name with a character assigned to it. This makes the Chinese periodic table really cool, because every box has a unique character.

However, the monosyllabic names may cause confusion because many are homophones. New characters had to be created specifically for the recently discovered elements. Some of them do not exist in Unicode.

Some patterns can be observed in the table:

All gases have the 气 (steam) radical.

The liquid elements (mercury and bromine) have a 水 or 氵(water) radical.

All metals except mercury have a 金 or 钅(metal) radical.

Solid non-metals and metalloids have the 石 (stone) radical.

(Originally posted on Quora.)

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--prompt from @flashfictionfridayofficial

There was nothing significant about the deal. It was a matter of shuffling papers and writing signatures on them; the ink darker than what the client would be expected. Years of practice on pencils, mechanical pencils, and gel pens led to holding a fountain pen on the woman's delicate hands. Against the light, it stoke like a thunderbolt, with the tip glimmering under the natural lighting. A slight of hand could manipulate everything.

Beauty was in the eye of the beholder, or as she liked to view without her glasses, unfiltered. Her fingers danced around the desk with their own rhythm, something which her feet would never know how to handle. Her shoulders could tremble until she finds herself in the rhythm and the chanting, but her soul remained aloof from what she wanted.

Jealousy reigned her horse, and it would provide the honey which sweetened her life. The ivies which bound her to the other provided some roots, in that it would prevent her from searching out what eluded her. A ruby which matched the blood which coursed through her.

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Inspired by @aijamisespava, I took this handy dandy Eurovision 2025 quiz!

Yes, I will shine. :)

What about you? @white-eyed-girl, @fragiledewdrop, @lexiklecksi

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Wow, this is so well done!

The Reluctant Victor, inspired by The Reluctant Bride by Auguste Toulmouche - I just thought that this painting was SO perfect for Katniss and I had to draw it!

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Be safe, my friends!

Reposting this so it gets to the right people!!

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City of Angels

--prompt from @thepathetickind

Even a sparkler could incinerate an empire; why light another one up, while singing songs from a home long since decayed?

I know of decay, because my body shows it. My fingertips still glow like embers because of the cigarettes I smoked because of that translucent moment between dusk and dawn.

At midnight, I stand with my patent leather heels, balancing on a fault line to announce to the world that I am here.

I am here to taste figs, I am here to write stories all over my arms. I am here to squeeze lemons in sparkling water. I'm here to face the desert dawn.

And when dawn unfurls, I smother the poems in my heart, for to reveal them is to expose a broken mirror swallowing the past like water.

But the water doesn't care; the waves break from my window, still the same turquoise from the day I came. I offer a bottle to slip in a yearning, tied with a ribbon from a fancy gift left on a nightstand.

What's a gift for me, that won't be lost to the flames, that will still glitter in spite of my iridescent tears? What better gift is there than thousands of hands embracing me, to know that this city has angels after all?

Until I see a pair of wings with falling feathers like snow, I'll take in the sea salt and jasmine sand, as I become  a poet on a street corner trying to recite to a crowd pulling at her clothes.

I'll hold a sparkler against the sun, to let it know that i exist, to know I will become a flame. --Elda Mengisto

Author's Note: I've been hearing about the protests in Los Angeles, and I'd figure I'd write about somebody trying to make of themselves here. Whether it be immigrant, a wannabe actor, or a student, there's a lot of characters in LA, and I hope they survive. Have courage, my friends!

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Courage, my fellow Los Angelenos/Angelenas.

Stand your ground ✊🏻💪🏻