#preview discussion

[poetrysmackdown]

hi hiii i wanted to say that your account is so refreshing to see, esp with the passion you have for the arts. as someone who's been meaning to read (and write) more poetry, do you have any recommendations? some classics that everyone and their mothers know? perhaps some underrated pieces that changed you? or even just authors you like, I'm very open to suggestions :]]

Hi! Thank you so much for this kind ask :) So exciting that you’re looking to delve deeper into reading and writing! I had to take a little time to answer this because my thoughts were all over the place lol.

For a review of notable/classic poems/poets, I honestly just recommend looking at lists online or, hell, just binging Wikipedia pages for different countries’ poetry if that’s something you’re into, just to get a sense of the chronology. I read one of those little Oxford Very Short Introductions on American Poetry and thought it was pretty good, but online is quicker if you’re just searching for poets or movements to hone in on. Poetry Foundation also has lots of resources, in addition to all the poems in their database. I guess my one big classic recommendation would have to be Emily Dickinson (<3), but really the best move is just to find a poet you already enjoy and then look around to see who their peers were/are, who they were inspired by, who they’ve maybe translated here and there, etc. and follow it down the line as far as you can.

For some personal recs, here are some collections I’ve really enjoyed over the past two years or so. Bolded favorites, and linking where select poems from the book have been published online. But also, if you want a preview of a couple poems from another of the books to see if they interest you, DM me and I can send them over! You can also feel free to pilfer through my poetry tag for more stuff lol

Autobiography of Death by Kim Hyesoon trans. Don Mee Choi

Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings by Joy Harjo

DMZ Colony by Don Mee Choi

Hardly War by Don Mee Choi

Whereas by Layli Long Soldier

Geography III by Elizabeth Bishop

Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha

Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

Mouth: Eats Color—Sagawa Chika Translations, Anti-Translations, & Originals by Sawako Nakayasu

The Selected Poems of Osip Mandelstam trans. W.S. Merwin and Clarence Brown

The Branch Will Not Break by James Wright

This Journey by James Wright

God’s Silence by Franz Wright

Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke (the translation I read was by Alfred Corn—I thought it was great, but idk if there are better ones out there!)

DMZ Colony, Hardly War, Dictee, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely, and partially Whereas are all book-length poems with some prose poetry and varying levels of weirdness/denseness/multilingualism—if you were to pick one to start with, I’d say do Don’t Let Me Be Lonely or Whereas. Mouth: Eats Color is some experimental translations of Japanese modernist poet Chika Sagawa, with other translations and some of Nakayasu’s original stuff mixed in—it's definitely a bit disorienting but ultimately I remember having such fun with it, as much fun as Nakayasu probably had making it. It’s a book that emphasizes co-creation and a spirit of play, and completely changed my attitude towards translation.

If you’re less interested in that kind of formal fuckery stuff though (I get it), can’t go wrong with the other books! Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings is the one I read most recently, and it’s great—Harjo also featured in Round 1! Franz Wright also featured, and God's Silence is the collection which "Night Walk" comes from. James Wright (father of Franz) is one of my favorite poets of all time, though his poetry isn’t perfect. Even so, I’m honestly surprised he’s not doing numbers on Tumblr—Mary Oliver was a big fan of his, even wrote her "Three Poems for James Wright" after his death.

I mentioned in another post that one of my favorite poets is Paul Celan, so I’ll also recommend him here. I read Memory Rose into Threshold Speech which is a translated collection of his earlier poems, but it’s quite long if you’re just getting to know him as a poet—fortunately, both Poetry Foundation and Poets.org have a ton of his poems in their collections. There’s also an article by Ilya Kaminsky about him titled “Of Strangeness That Wakes Us” (!!!!!) that’s a great place to start, and is honestly kind of my whole mission statement when I’m reading and writing poetry. Looking at the books I’ve recommended above, a lot of them share feelings of separateness or alienation—from others, from oneself, from one’s country, from language—that breed strange, private modes of expression. That tends to be what I’m drawn to personally, and that’s some of what Kaminsky talks about.

Sorry of the length of this—I hope it's useful as a jumping-off point! And if you or anyone ends up exploring any of these poets, let me know what you think! If folks wanna reply with recommendations themselves too that'd be great :)

[keeperofthehyperfixations]

i feel sort of bad for my retired phannie friend (she hasn't really been paying attention to dnp for the past couple of years) and i've forcefully dragged her back into it and i've almost convinced her to go to the tour with me

[smilingperformer]

HZ067 preview spoilers again because I SOMEHOW MISSED THIS:

ARVEN MY BOI????

HE'S FINALLY HERE?????

[keep-on-trying]

Gosh I love the pacing in WonderPre so fricking much, love how they finally revealed the NikoGarden stuff to Iroha's family, ofc while also keeping Precure stuff a secret still. Both me and sis gasped so hard when Komugi, AS A DOG, talked in front of Iroha's parents skajhsfjkhsf. God damn it Komugi.

Next ep is HYPE THOU, aaaaaaaaahhhh Cure Lillian is absolutely near!

[nightblood-autoresponder]

I appreciate that the recent revelation that BAM's binding messed up nahel divorce means that Kal's WoR crisis of conscience Wouldn't Have Killed Syl if it happened 2000-7000 years ago. It wasnt supposed to be like that; he could have disagreed with Syl's concept of honor without killing her in the process. Getting it wrong or "wrong" Shouldn't have been so unthinkably disastrous. Objective right and wrong died in the Cosmere when God was split into competing perspectives + thats why I like it here

[allyougottado]

cow is cute

[heartvisor]

from an interview with mister warabino after the airing of the first episode: "in 'ultraman blazar', there is a lot of effort put into analyzing and clarifying the reasons for the appearance of such monsters and the meanings behind their actions. for us on the human side as well, not only discovering and defeating them, we also consider seriously whether it's really okay to defeat these monsters."

it's always neat to come across these kinds of sentiments as they appear every so often across the franchise. the premise of this season seemed to have a particular deliberate interest in it, so it's exciting to see these ideas now kinda coming to the forefront in the recent episode's developments 💭

[abybweisse]

Ch203, Flashbacks?

In the comments of this post about ch202 spoilers, @ojamajoprincess and I said:

So, it's weird that ch202 has the cover art with what I suspect is Finny's (rather starry-eyed) POV of our earl and Sebastian... when the flashbacks don't start here. Seems more like it should be the cover art for ch203.

Well, at least it's looking like Finny's flashbacks will finally start next month. We'll see!

[bellarkeandclintashaandsuch]

Be My Favorite Ep. 9 - Thoughts Part 2

So I had even more thoughts.

I love Pisaeng offering to be Kawi's Sugar Daddy. But I also love Kawi saying they need a more equal relationship to make it last and that he needs to take more care. Communication is key! But poor Pisaeng. He just wants his boyfriend to have a phone that won't die all the time, so he can call him when he wants.

I think that Kawi took it rather well, walking in to a classroom gossiping about his brand new relationship with Pisaeng. Pear was still his focus because he really wants to do right by her. Even though they'll never date in this timeline, he really cares about her.

And it shows just how close Pear and Pisaeng are when she goes to him specifically to ask about Kawi, but ends up opening up to him about her mom. Because Pisaeng is her best friend, and she needed to talk this out with him. And I very much appreciate that Pisaeng didn't lie about his feelings for Kawi. That was probably a hard conversation for both of them, but they were still honest with each other. Communication is key for romance and friendship!

And she was clearly upset, but she held it together, and told Kawi she wasn't ready to listen to him right now. Pear did turn Kawi down, but they both obviously thought they were moving in the direction of a relationship, so it makes sense that she would be hurt.

It was such a nice surprise that they confronted Pisaeng telling Pear the truth in this episode and that Kawi didn't blow up at Pisaeng about it. He's just sad that he couldn't be the one to tell Pear and hopefully save her some heartache. And I like that they talked about Kawi wanting to set everything right. And Pisaeng feeling kind of sad that that doesn't just mean them being together. But Kawi explaining that many people were affected by the changes he made, and he doesn't just want himself and Pisaeng to have a good life, but for everyone around them. And speaking of everyone around them... Kwan! Please! Why do you like Not! Why are you sleeping with him! What do you see in him?!

I'm not going to lie. In prior episodes, I thought if Kwan wanted him, maybe he could get a redemption, if he really worked on himself. But after this? No way! He literally told her he doesn't "feel that much" about her! What the heck! He couldn't even be bothered to show her kindness or to be empathetic when she started crying! I really thought he would try to reassure her even if he was lying. Or do something! Anything!

It was very sweet seeing Pear ask Not to not tell anyone about Pisaeng and Kawi, because they're her friends, and she wants them to be comfortable in their new relationship and to be comfortable to come out when they want to. And I have to apologize, Pear. I was really worried that you would agree to go out with Not. I mean, you do have a track record of jumping from your crush to whoever is crushing on you after getting turned down. But I was wrong, and you were even nice in turning down Not of all people. I'm so sorry for doubting you, queen!

Basically everything on the balcony was amazing. Pisaeng saying that they can get through everything together. That Kawi can't live thinking the future will be awful. Kawi assuring Pisaeng that he wants to keep dating. Pisaeng telling Kawi that he has to have hope. Kawi telling Pisaeng his fears aren't because they're both men. Pisaeng saying there's nothing more right than them being together <3

The last photos I had in my Be My Favorite folder before this episode were these:

Such a change a couple episodes makes 😭<3

[xoxoemynn]

Where the Daylight Begins - Chapter Seven

A modern AU featuring a pining Ed, a clueless Stede, found family, roughly a million animals, and a very magical house. I hope it makes you feel like you are being wrapped up in a big, gay hug. Written as a follow up to The Merry Strays of Lighthouse Sanctuary, but it’s not strictly necessary to read that first. Read the most recent chapter here, or start from the beginning here.

A million thanks to @margotandthefox, @monksofthescrew, and @blakbonnet for their feedback and encouragement. You make magic happen. And also a HUGE thank you to @haflacky for the glorious art.

~*~

"Oh, like Truth or Dare? I'd love that," said Wee John. "Tell me: fire. Strictly off limits, or are we willing to have a little fun with it?"

"I was thinking something more like charades, but good to know where our heads are at," said Stede. He sighed. "I suppose a face mask wouldn't hurt. I feel like my face has aged a decade since Alma and Louis have seen me last. Might restore a bit of my youth."

"Aww, come off it," Ed said. "Not a bloody thing wrong with your face."

Nine wide-eyed faces turned to stare at him. 

"Well, there isn't," Ed said. "Now, what were you saying about nail polish?"

chapter one | chapter two | chapter three | chapter four | chapter five | chapter six | chapter seven

[smilingperformer]

Liko being super nervous about being the first to attempt gym leader challenge ror the terastal course is so fucking relatable to me I swear to god I-

[keep-on-trying]

Preview images of next WonderPre ep arrived and I checked and like, under the cut:

This is such a gentle smile and gods I am excited to see Cure Lillian debut!! Hope her transformation is as good as others, like so far imo none are bad at all! They ooze personality! Well maybe Wonderful could have used more interesting choreograph as she's mostly just standing in it but still!

[fandomfairyuniverse]

Jim honey sweetie bestie beloved I think you’re taking the whole “do as I say not as I do” thing a little to seriously okay let’s take a deep breath and not reprimand your nephew for being gay please and thank you

[my-strange-anime-ponderings]

Go Rush Episode 98 Preview Discussion ⚠️(TW: actually the most sad thing I've pondered about)⚠️

When I say that what I'm discussing is sad, I really mean it. The topic of su*cide comes up so I'm sorry in advance.

Episode Title Discussion

Extinction??? That's pretty horrifying. The implication is that Velgearians will go extinct. Does that mean that Zuwijo and Yudias are the only two left???

⚠️Probably the most triggering part of the post⚠️

What Zuwijo is doing here is basically suicide. He's duelling voluntarily, knowing that he will most likely die. No other way to put it. And dragging Yudias into it is pretty horrifying too since we know that Yudias is the most passionate about Rush Duels. When Yudias finds out that duelling speeds up the deaths of Velgearians, I can only imagine how horrified or hurt he would feel. Looking at the high possibility that Yudias survives (since killing off the MC is a risky move unless they plan to bring him, and by proxy, every other Velgearian) he would have basically assisted in Zuwijo's suicide. If Yudias does not survive? Um... definitely would be the most painful episode ever. Also it would be extremely selfish if Yudias doesn't know everything about what this duel could entail. (Yes I am talking about knowing that he could die beforehand. Because there is a chance that Zuwijo doesn't tell Yudias about the whole duelling kills Velgearians, though I highly doubt he would withhold such information but I had to mention it to prepare for such a possibility.)

The fact that Zuwijo seems so flippant about his oncoming death and even encourages it (most likely to feel like a 'real' living being, as this was a large part of his existential crisis in season 1) shows that he is not okay. Duelling on purpose shows intent to die. I don't think any of these guys were okay but enough about that.

⚠️The Poetic Part of the Situation (still triggering)⚠️

Now you're probably wondering: the poetic part??? Well, the fact that Zuwijo and Yudias' differences were solved through Rush Duels, the fact that they have been so close... that's the poetic part. To die with a loved one (can be romantic or platonic) is something. I don't know what that something is but it's a significant something. But what I do know is that it is poetic. And tragic.

But I don't think it's wrong to have a final request such as dying doing the thing you want. It's just that doing what you love is the thing that's killing Zuwijo here. After all, considering the fact that Velgearians are warriors, going out in a duel is the closest Zuwijo could get to dying in battle since that didn't work when he was actually supposed to die earlier. It would probably be seen as an honourable way to go. The fact that he chose Yudias shows how he feels about Yudias. I don't know how to explain it other than the 'I'd rather die to you than to anyone else' feeling.

Personal part (you can leave here I'm done talking about the show)

Regarding my personal feelings on the topic, it doesn't matter how the duel plays out or what is or isn't said. I will be sad. And I want to be sad. So I'm going to take a break from Tumblr until then because spoilers ruin the impact and this site is riddled with spoilers. Every time an emotional moment comes up I want to cry but I can't because I've already braced myself for the possibilities. Even with a situation as obvious as this, I have to escape the internet to feel the full impact of the episode as intended.

[jimgandolfini]

the old man gave me a binder full of news clipping of himself to scan and there’s a photo of him shirtless (from like 30years ago)… I am truly living my best life. This is my #1 dream job. I’ve been training on tumblr dot com for this moment for literally half my life

[moonbisexualsharktamerr]

this sentence single-handedly inflicted critical damage to me and my mental health while watching g witch