#just to be alive on this fresh morning

[moranjpg]

frankenstein - or, the modern prometheus, mary shelley

[firstfullmoon]

If you persevere, in time you will have an entirely different problem – not that life is meaningless, but rather that life has almost too much meaning. As the scales fall from your eyes the world rushes into focus, presenting itself with a kind of vibrational eloquence that can, at first, be almost overwhelming. Everything shimmers, everything clarifies, everything wrestles for your attention. Trees feel super-real, their roots plunged into the earth, their branches stretching to the sky, birds are flesh and blood souls, fragile with life, the sky unfolds and rolls, the ocean crashes, people fascinate, books are beautiful, children are whirling dynamos of chaos, dogs bark and cats meow, flowers shout, your neighbour glows, and God runs like a helix through all things. The world awaits you, humming with meaning. You are alive with potential. You are not dead.

— Nick Cave on getting clean, Red Hand Files #258

[oflights]

Invitation

Oh do you have time to linger for just a little while out of your busy

and very important day for the goldfinches that have gathered in a field of thistles

for a musical battle, to see who can sing the highest note, or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth, or the most tender? Their strong, blunt beaks drink the air

as they strive melodiously not for your sake and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning but for sheer delight and gratitude – believe us, they say, it is a serious thing

just to be alive on this fresh morning in the broken world. I beg of you,

do not walk by without pausing to attend to this rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something. It could mean everything. It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote: You must change your life.

Mary Oliver

[poetry-rivers]

Oh do you have time to linger for just a little while out of your busy

and very important day for the goldfinches that have gathered in a field of thistles

for a musical battle, to see who can sing the highest note, or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth, or the most tender? Their strong, blunt beaks drink the air

as they strive melodiously not for your sake and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning but for sheer delight and gratitude – believe us, they say, it is a serious thing

just to be alive on this fresh morning in the broken world. I beg of you,

do not walk by without pausing to attend to this rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something. It could mean everything. It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote: You must change your life.

Mary Oliver, "Invitation" from A Thousand Mornings

[karliahs]

the orange by wendy cope / invitation by mary oliver / onions by the mountain goats / small kindnesses by danusha laméris / recovery by marie howe

these are the words that make me feel the most insane btw

[lastparty]

it is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in the broken world

[cosettegf]

the amount of time between 7am and 9am should be at least twice the length. for my sanity

[humofnight]

it’s not perfect since I planned it out at pottery and so wasn’t my tidiest

BUT IF THIS MUG DOESNT TURN OUT IM GONNA BE MAD

[songtwo]

for years i would beat myself up thinking i had made all the wrong choices - wrong school, wrong city, wrong career and there was no way i could've possibly controlled that but i would just wish i had been born someplace else that wasn't as fucked up as it is here and the future terrified me bc there was nothing clear about it and around me things just seemed to get worse and worse. then around mid summer 2022 i started to accept things as they were and even though i was not happy or content i knew I couldn't stay that way so I started making peace with the good things - my mom, my pets, being able to go to school and living in a city that was a little less awful than others. and this is not in a law of attraction live laugh love manifest girlboss etc kind of way but soon afterwards things started looking up. i got an internship at a record label, i met the love of my life and applied for my current job as a music journalist - all within the span of one month. and from then on life has just been wonderful. I'm starting to achieve my dreams and i finally feel loved and seen and overall it's been perfect.

so again this is not in a live laugh love kind of way i think me being trying to be positive and good things starting to happen was a coincidence but the point is: for the longest time i thought and even hoped i would die before 23 and i genuinely believed i was doomed to live a miserable and lonely and meaningless life and now my dream life seems more possible everyday and i hope i get to live until 95 and im the happiest I've ever been. so i think what I'm trying to say is things eventually do get better. it will take years and it will feel like forever but it does get better and its like when rainer maria rilke said life has not forgotten you!!! it might take 21 years or 30 or more and life might take unexpected turns and everything will feel hopeless but i really do believe things will turn out okay eventually and there is nothing u can do but hold on and stay strong and it's so cliche and annoying but it is true and there is always art and hot beverages and loved ones to hold your hand and keep you company while you wait for the sun to shine again

[angefairy]

happy to be alive tbh

[moranjpg]

a little life, hanya yanagihara

[firstfullmoon]

I leaned against the beauty of the world / And I held the smell of the seasons in my hands

Anna de Noailles, as quoted in Les Années (The Years) by Annie Ernaux

[erstwhilesparrow]

notes to self:

i am alive i am alive i am alive i am alive i am alive!!!!

the weather is cool but not cold today. everything you have on you right now is enough to keep you warm.

don't forget to finish your reflection assignment

there is no use in hating the word love. complicate it instead. chew and pull and disassemble! someone somewhere will tell you you've made yourself clear to them.

stop by the library this weekend if you can? could do with another book. make living your project.

one more time for good measure: alive!! alive, alive, alive!

[rinrinlovee]

i can’t explain how much I love A Song For Beloved

[bookmatter]

i got a mary oliver tattoo today, if anyone cares

[ketavinsky]

i mean who is ever going to love me that much again