The Essential American Worker
— Saeed Jones, from Alive at the End of the World
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America kills me, then says “now get back to work.”
[It’s 7 p.m. again; it’s time to clap.]
[It’s 7 p.m. again; it’s time to clap.]
[It’s 7 p.m. again; it’s time to clap.]
I know
a ghost like mine don’t come cheap.]
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On loneliness as hunger
The Lonely City, Olivia Laing//Alive at the End of the World, Saeed Jones//Faithless, Joyce Carol Oates
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a spell to banish grief, from “alive at the end of the world” by saeed jones
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I grieve that, even then, I already knew I’d do it again, again, again, again.
— Saeed Jones, “Grief #913” (from Alive at the End of the World)
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I have added Jones to my list of favorite poets. Must read his other collections.
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Now that everything that happened has happened, I can tell you that, honestly, it wasn't a bad question. It might even have been a good one, but sometimes you just don't like the outfit the question is wearing.
Saeed Jones, from “Saeed, or The Other One: I” in Alive at the End of the World
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Alive at the end of the world
The end of the world was mistaken
for just another accident caused by
human error in Greece. Brain matter
and broken glass, burned iron slats
and burned skin. We dialed the newly dead,
but they wouldn't answer. We texted,
begging them to call us back, but
the newly dead don't know how
to read. In the days that followed, a gathering
of people was called a protest or a funeral.
Depending on who had lived long enough
to define the terms. But for now, we
are alive at the end of the world,
well-shocked by headlines and alarm
clocks, burning through what little love
we have left. With time, the men in ties
will say this was just a misunderstanding.
All of it will become wounds we can't quite remember enduring. Pain that wants to be forgotten.
"How did you get that scar on your shoulder?"
"Oh, I just happened to be traveling by train one night."
.
.
.
This poem is entirely based on Saeed Jones’ poem of the same title. I just felt it captures the feeling caused by recent horrific events and adapted it.
It continues my “poems of the aftermath” series.
Rest in peace.
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No one listens when // I talk myself in circles, not / even me.
Saeed Jones, “The Trial,” Alive at the End of the World
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For those who were lost and injured at Club Q
For those who just wanted to dance
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Finished two books this week. Normal People, which might not be my favorite Rooney book, but I’m kinda excited to finally watch the show.
Alive at the End of the World was given to me by an (ex) coworker. We bonded over our love of poetry, and Saeed Jones is local to her, so she got this at one of his book signings!
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But silence has never stopped me from praying.
Alive, how many nights did I spend knelt between
the knees of gods and men begging for rain, rent,
and reasons to remain?
— Saeed Jones, from "A Memory," Alive at the End of the World
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The Lonely City, Olivia Laing//Alive at the End of the World, Saeed Jones
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a song for the status quo, from “alive at the end of the world” by saeed jones
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until i recently read posts on here about how there is an inherent queerness to the doctor and rose's relationship in how it's unspoken and filled with yearning that i'd never really considered that element, despite knowing for ages that RTD is gay but. man. it's just reframed a lot of the series for me, like the idea that you have this lonely man who's just watched his people die and is self-destructive and misanthropic and traumatised and he can love again and he wants to but it has so many risks.
but especially S3 and how it adds even more weight to the doctor's grieving widower status. how he tells martha that he and rose were together but martha refers to rose as a friend to tallulah; the fact that he can only say they were together once she is gone; how the only other person that both can feel how he feels but also understands the depth of his feelings is jack, a queer man himself. and I've been thinking to myself lately oh, it's ok, the doctor and rose probably accidentally got married on at least one planet or something but also the point is that there was no official title that could convey to people the extent that they meant to each other, that the doctor can really only tell donna that rose was his friend even though it is so wholly inadequate and she comes to see that by the end of the episode (and martha too of course). how people who saw the doctor and rose together assumed they were a couple, like on krop tor, but once there's no more physical evidence of the relationship it becomes more vague (and simultaneously clearer).
anyway something about how christopher eccleston said he based his portrayal of nine on RTD and something about RTD saying that his husband is "in every good man i write now" and how the doctor and ruby seeing each other in the club mimics his first meeting with his husband aka the one moment he would use a time machine to go back to hmmm
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