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I am not what happened to me. I am what happens next.

— Reina Regina

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The Graces Crowning Venus, late 19th century

Antonio Frilli, after a design by Antonio Canova

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From Stephanie Valente's chapbook, waiting for the end of the world, available from Bottlecap Press!

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Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke, 1892-1910

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The High Priestess. Art by Hélène Lenoble.

I present you the illustration of the card of the High Priestess. It represents wisdom and understanding. The gigantic veil behind her head is the veil of the knowledge. It’s also the boundary between the known and the unknown. The High Priestess therefore represents enlightenment, spiritual knowledge and wisdom at the highest level…

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they say people exit from your life because they can no longer be part of your next journey and now I wonder, where am I going that my dearest love cannot follow?

—the walk alone, some things don't survive, Reina Regina

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Perhaps I am too good at silence— after all, no one has noticed how much of an effort I make, since, predictably, I have never said a word about it but sometimes I wish that I was capable of making more of a disturbance, that I was less apologetic for the space I take up in a room.

—the whisperer, some things don't survive, Reina Regina

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we talk about how some things are meant to die, but everything that is alive has been dying since the day it was born.

—prologue, some things don't survive, Reina Regina

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Apollo crowned by Nike

By Noël Coypel

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Just a little bit of color therapy (ink on paper).

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I don’t regret a single ounce of the love I’ve given away over the years—though sometimes I cringe out of my skin when I think of what people have done with it. But the point is that, despite the pandemic, and the growth, and the change, and the loss, and the grief, I’m still here. I’m alive to cringe. I’m alive to have regrets, if I change my mind. I’m alive to give more love away, if I so choose. And I choose to give my love to you.

—foreword, some things don't survive, Reina Regina

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The lesson I hope readers take away from [my book] isn’t that love isn’t worth having because there’s a chance it will die one day, but rather that ALL love dies, inevitably, in absolute certainty, with the passage of time. As humans it is not for us to avoid love when it comes knocking, nor to spoil it when it’s on its way out. What I’ve learned is that all we can do is love these people and these structures and these experiences fully while they’re here. And when it’s time for them to leave, all we can do is let go and lose them without losing ourselves.

— foreword, some things don't survive, Reina Regina

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I have new friends who don't know your name— only the way you left, and the way you left me for them to piece back together.

ah, si ano, some things won’t survive, Reina Regina

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Queen of Swords

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