flowersfrommywrists

[flowersfrommywrists]

never let being a girl stop you from being a boy

[flowersfrommywrists]

You ever hear that old chestnut about how most people neglect the part of the story of Icarus where he also had to avoid flying too low, lest the spray of the sea soak his feathers and cause him to fall and drown? You ever think about how different the world would be if Icarus died that way instead? If the idiom was to Fly To Close To The Sea? A warning against playing it far too safe, about not stretching your wings and soaring properly? You ever think about how Icarus died because he was happy?

[flowersfrommywrists]

Nancy Willard, from “Questions My Son Asked Me, Answers I Never Gave Him”

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Joy Sullivan, “Tomatoes”, Instructions for Traveling West

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Joy Sullivan, “Culpable”, Instructions for Traveling West

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you're not quite an emergency, is the thing. you're just having a bad spell. so what if you can't ever really catch your breath. can't ever really feel at ease. a buzzing, terrible feeling.

but emergencies are loud, and passionate, and hit the floor. you are not a lion or a hurricane, you just live in a pretty okay apartment and your back hurts. you wake up and drag yourself out of bed and banish what if i was dead thoughts like cobwebs. you pick out your clothes and try to stay active. you apply for jobs on the internet.

the anxiety is a wave, and the depression is a spiral. the other stuff keeps things "colorful." you mitigate your symptoms and take your meds when you have them and you try to hang out with friends. you go home and your head is full of riverwater. no matter how much you sleep, you still stay tired. you journal and practice gratitude and build from the bottom upwards. and still, the haunting.

you're not a 911 call or a shriek. you're just staring up at the ceiling and feeling the house settle into your bones. you feel you are playacting as a wolf when you're only a sheep. not quite dry and not quite drowning.

over and over, you slog through the creek.

[flowersfrommywrists]

[flowersfrommywrists]

Mary Oliver, “Don't Hesitate.” Devotions

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People say “phase” like impermanence means insignificance. Show me a permanent state of the self.

[flowersfrommywrists]

art will save you, being unreasonably passionate about something niche will save you, letting past sources of joy show you the way back to yourself will save you, earnestness over composure will save you, the natural world will save you, caring for something bigger than yourself will save you, daring to be seen will save you, kindness not as a whim but a principle will save you, appreciation as a practice will save you, daring to try something new will save you, grounding will save you, love will save you, one good nights sleep will save you

[flowersfrommywrists]

Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present (2012) dir: Matthew Akers

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In the heart of India, Jim Goldberg captures a raw emotional landscape through his lens—a 2008 photograph that echoes with Hyderabad’s vibrant spirit.

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[flowersfrommywrists]

— Megan Fernandes, “Do You Sell Dignity Here?” from I Do Everything I’m Told

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10 or 11 little ducks have been spotted crossing the dash board

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BONES AND ALL (2022) dir. Luca Guadagnino

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Sappho, from If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho; tr. by Anne Carson