#Metella's Poetry

[metellastella]

Pinned Post Primer

This is my Pinned Post to explain what I post where. 

I often post doodle dumps and lineart that you ARE free to use! Just make sure you look on the post’s commentary to double check. Credit is appreciated.

I also like coloring other peoples’ lineart, if you have some you’re not motivated to finish, but want to see it done. 

TLDNR Version (read first regardless):

This is my main. Eco-friendly stuff mostly, original art, ATLA, and I am entering a new era of fanart within a slew of other fandoms so let me get that sorted.

(mostly animation, but some Steam games and medical dramas will be included hopefully as well)

Currently I am way into Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, hoping Kipo or Dogs in Space somehow get the attention they deserve, which despite the utterly silly sounding names, have hints of much larger societal themes, and are quite solid and awesome.

Dungeon Meshi: I’ve literally never bought a print manga before despite having dabbled in anime a little, but this one has convinced me.

Undertale sideblogs: add ‘ask-anachro-’ to the front of your favorite characters, and at least one should show up. I do half the main cast. 

Instagram: The IG of my same name hosts pet portrait paintings

Instagram (metellastella_fandom) fanart for Pokemon, ATLA, Undertale, etc.

UPDATE: IG has locked me out of that account due to some technical difficulty, and in true corrupt corporation fashion they won’t respond to Support emails. So, now that one’s been torpedoed. They’ve essentially made it an ‘archive’ now. Guess for future posting I’m going to have to fallback on metellastella_fantasy

Deviantart: MUCH more content

AO3: ATLA, MMHOPH, TMNT, and small quantities of The Dragon Prince (which has people from ATLA) FFN: Less content, because I haven’t gotten around to it. WHY would you nix the beta reader function, FFN?? WWHHYY? Does anyone want to start a community hive of beta readers somewhere ‘cause that’d be swell. 

Ao3 community, Discord, BlueSky, Mastodon, literally don’t care where. 

If you know of a place that exists, PLZ SHARE.

More-detailed ‘Long I WILL Read’ Version under the cut: 

I have poems about practically any subject you’d care to name. I frequently share these as Google Docs, and may eventually record for Spoken Word for Soundcloud and/or YT. I also have some essays/rants and I’m not sure what blog platform I want to use. Any suggestions? 

I am working on a couple of novels, which I also have samples for in Google Docs.

Will not crosspost within IG accounts or Tumblr sideblogs if I can absolutely help it, so feel free to follow more than one with the expectation you will not see the same thing twice. Will occasionally add something I think of later from a differently focused account, though.

On my main Tumblr, I post a blend of general social justice, mixed with environmental justice and sustainability, and wildlife and cute and/or interesting animals, and also Avatar the Last Airbender. I have a sideblog that is dedicated primarily to ATLA reblogs but also a sprinkling of other fandoms that come up and some discussion on others’ headcanons and my own story. (Next tagging project is probably going to be #Metella Metas) A couple of half-dressed up drawings to go along with my ATLA fic have their own posts. Hashtag: #WMTE

My other main fandom is Undertale, and I have several ask blogs where the characters get into general shenanigans and also speak on topics they’re interested in, and fun facts. Oh and I also do voices and songs for a lot of them on Soundcloud, which I will crosspost links to for your listening pleasure on Tumblr. 

The reason I don’t post Pokemon art to Tumblr on any blogs is because it would take a whole lot of work to transfer the mountains worth of fanart I’ve already done to here. (I’ve already got more to transfer from my first DA account, before they enabled username changes). Also, I am not as deep into the character and worldbuilding aspects of the Pokemon franchise. On Tumblr, I try to focus on fandoms I write for, since it enables text better and people actually evaluate it (unlike my witty Artists’ Comments on DA I spent years submitting, and adding cute emoticons to, which I’m not sure anyone actually reads) so as for my being visually inspired, I decided to keep to platforms that are focused on images. 

The reasons why DA hosts a lot more of my content than IG is (a) I’ve been on there a whole lot longer and (b) I have a heck of a time trying to fit some art and comics to the limited image scale on IG. On Deviantart and the specific Instagram ‘sideblog’ (@metellastella_fandom), Pokemon art ranges from semi-realistic to super cartoony. 

For @metellastella_fantasy, the critters are also posted on DA and it’s much easier to download my lineart than from IG (in fact I’m not sure it’s possible at all there??) 

I have some other sideblogs, but I’d rather not mention them here, because I’m self-conscious about conflict. (when on a more front-facing ‘public’ platform ofc- anybody who knows me knows I can rip into a good debate 1-on-1) If we’re already friends and I’ve talked to you some, and you’re curious about the sideblogs, you can PM me.

If you’re interested in a snapshot of me as a person, go here: https://metellastella.tumblr.com/post/636149436159000576/its-weird-i-know-irl-and-url-people-act

[brakerbreaker]

Masterpieces of World Literature: Catullus, Sappho, and Keats

Why did Catullus feel the need to reference Sappho in his poems multiple times? What did he feel that he had in common with her? It is not sadly not surprising that we have so little of Sappho’s works compared to Catullus. What remains from the past is a good portrayal of what was important and valued in past cultures. Sappho’s poetry was not as valued in ancient Greek culture because she was a woman. She was also a woman who was not heteronormative and wrote poetry about her sexuality. Catullus, on the other hand, has one hundred sixteen pieces remaining from the past. He is a man from 600 years later in the ancient Roman society. His Lesbia poetry is supposed to be a reference to Sappho since Sappho was from Lesbos. Lesbia was supposedly a reference to a woman named Clodia Metella who was an infamous society woman. However, this might now have been the case. The Lesbia poems are about a love affair that Catullus supposedly had. By referencing Sappho in them, he references that the majority of her works are about love and relationships. I think that he probably felt that his works were similar to Sappho’s works because they dealt with inner emotion. Both Catullus and Sappho write poetry fervently about emotions. It is also important to remember that since Catullus was closer in time to Sappho’s era then he probably had access to more of her works than we do today. He was probably able to read more of her works because they had not been destroyed or lost to time yet. Catullus is interesting to me because he reminds me of an ancient version of John Keats. Keats was a romantic poet from the 1800s who wrote exceptional poetry about life and death. Keats died very young from Tuberculosis and he knew he was dying so his works reflect that desire to be remembered after his death. This is similar to Catullus who died young as well although we do not know how or what he died from. They both exhibit the same powerful language and emotion in their works.

[garland-on-thy-brow]

Prime numbers for Cassius?

2. Hate

I don’t think he hates Caesar personally. Dislikes - yes, but, imo, not more than that. It’s the idea of living under monarchy that is hateful.

3. Hopes

Can’t think of anything. I don’t know if he even has any.

5. Crying

Rarely cries, more rarely still is seen crying; the tent scene shows a notable exception.

7. Travel

He is a Cassius of Cic. Fam. 4.12, who was in Athens in May 45 bce, when M. Marcellus was murdered there. But it’s rather a slot for a headcanon than a headcanon, because I have no idea why he was there.

11. Best Friend

He can voluntarily listen to Brutus’s poetry. Unbelievable.

13. Hair

His hair is quite short, which is why his habit of disheveling it practically doesn’t affect general appearance.

17. Scars

Probably never was seriously wounded, has a lot of small scars.

19. Summer

re #7: …Returned from Athens for the wedding of Brutus and Porcia (end of June or first days of July 45 bce).

23. Romance

We know that after Cassius handed Syria to Bibulus in 51 bce, he stayed there for something like two weeks. The headcanon is that he and Titinius spent together as much of this time as they could.

29. Bedroom

At home in Rome, his bedroom is next to the library. Which doesn’t mean he doesn’t sleep in the library.

31. Death

Cornelia Metella, the widow of P. Crassus, after Cassius’s return from Syria used to look at him like he’s a ghost.

37. Vengeance

It was him and not Brutus who executed Theodotus (former teacher of Ptolemy XIII, one of those who advised Pompey’s murder) in Asia. [Plutarch says Brutus, Appian - Cassius.]

41. Memory

He’s a kind of person who can casually reference a conversation you had 10 years ago when you did not think he was even paying attention.

[metellastella]

My friend sent me this text

Let me weigh in

On weight.

Your worth

Is not measured by numbers.

That worked

For precious metals and prospectors

But you are precious

No matter what

There is no such thing as fool’s gold

When dealing with human beings.

Except maybe glitz and glamour

That’s valued, with no meaning

When you step up on that scale

You’ve been told it’s quantifying health

However.

The numbers telling you that measure

Are blood sugar and pressure

But the best way

To gauge

Is to observe how you’re feeling.

If you seem down and out

Feel like you’re trash

You’ll crave junk.

A sumo wrestler

The doctors tell

“Mysteriously” does not show weight’s weight

On health, like others with obesity

You don’t have to go to those extremes

But if you eat

colorful treasures

That aren’t artificial

And drink in your body’s movements often and gentle

No numbers needed

You’ll feel like a million dollars.

[metellastella]

Don’t Be Sad

How can some people not be live wires

The greatest tragedies in the history of the globe

A click at your fingertips to hold

Also the greatest triumphs.

And the ironies.

And the fascinating mechanisms

Of what we call "the universe"

From atom and energy

To light years and galaxy

while I sip my tea

and sit in PJs comfortably

Our parents had to trek to libraries.

I catch the eye of someone else

Who shares my special smirk.

_

The best songs are about

Existential crisis, soliloquies, sociopolitical commentary; cemented laments in memories

and one-on-one joy have their place.

But there’s so much more to experience, Earth, and the human race.

Reflective, refractive.

All these songs I’ve mentioned were written by, yes, romantics

Who knew there was something more to say

I’m a Romantic, not a romantic.

An aromantic, not a romantic

Don’t Be Sad

Be Unapologetically Aro Spec

Demand Respect

Some may not believe it

I identify with intense emotions

Urges over a wide variety

But I've never really been attracted to anyone.

What's in their heads,

Not so much what's in beds

Half-dizzy, yes, I've had that,

In fact, not even half.

Information overload

and circuits fried,

A deep need for reassurance, contact,

Re-established regular flow,

And someone with whom to go on and on.

It's a different color pallet, sure, but lesser? No.

They say I’m “missing” something, just like you.

. . . My kindred spirit I found on that site, sounds like you're listening to

Drama with no backdrop

Drowning in too much mainstream and pop

And then giving yourself grief

over not being able to swim

or breathe easy there. Stop.

Let me pass on some advice from the smirking one and some back home

Widen your horizons and change your lens filters.

Indie, alternative, 70s, 90s, protest, underground,

Dig into the corners of albums

Whose most repeated songs

May have been chosen by a populous of lust

But hidden diamonds abound.

Don’t feel bad.

Don’t mourn what you never had.

You are on the less traveled path.

Embrace your trek of this track

This is an opportunity

to be dazzling,

not a missed chance

to be ordinary.

[metellastella]

I don’t think my brain is powerful enough your verse to parse

And you say you’re not smart

Multisyllabic musical words roll off your tongue like a waterfall

And yet your demon says, you’re not clever at all

You believe his acid words

Till they burn through your bones

But I know how that is, actually

Mine, of same species, hisses,

‘If you’re sso ssmart, why aren’t you ssuccesssful?’

Like a poison xylophone,

he plays on insecurities

he plays on the mistaken idea

That raw intelligence has anything to do with emotional well-being

For if you are hurting

No amount of book learning

Can outweigh the wounds to the heart

They must be nurtured

And paradoxically, one of the ways that’s ensured

Is to revel

In intelligence

Simply for its own sake

No applications

For usefulness

Or jobs

To love

The aspects of you

That are worth celebrating.