meloninthemorning

[meloninthemorning]

i keep leaving tumblr every couple of years or so but then every rotation i keep coming back. it’s just a nice place with good memories.

#i like the view

[meloninthemorning]

poetry is a tough language. there are so many arcs and metaphors to it and the further you go back, the harder it is because of the unfamiliarity of its richness. and that's alright - it's fine if you want to stay away from particular texts, you shouldn't have to force yourself. poetry isn't there to intimidate you but it does have a place in your life. it's a tough language for tough situations. what poetry (literature in general, really) offers you is the chance to capture what you mean in the most real and involved way you know how. to try and have another person experience the singular wonder that is being you; living in YOUR head. no one else knows what that is like. language on its own will often lack all the right words so we have to turn to stories and imagery and turns of phrase powerful enough to say how things are. poetry is not a place to hide from. it's a place for discovery; for a reaching out of hearts and looking at the world through their eyes and reckoning: 'you too?'

#about poetry #it's the effort that maybe somehow we can find each other

[meloninthemorning]

Kass Copeland

[meloninthemorning]

You will forever be the opera night, the dizziness of white wine in November, the auction evening, a futurist painting, waltzing in a golden room, that cafe in the Corso, the restaurant you brought me to, every art gallery in Milan, the box of chocolates you brought me from Switzerland, the chatter of people in Lisbon, the sound of fado, the northern lights in a finnish night, the open swimming pool in Helsinki, Garda lake, the skyline of Milan.

Half of the world, for me, speaks of you.

#like moths among the whisperings the champagne and the stars

[meloninthemorning]

“Some years ago, I was stuck on a crosstown bus in New York City during rush hour. Traffic was barely moving. The bus was filled with cold, tired people who were deeply irritated—with one another; with the rainy, sleety weather; with the world itself. Two men barked at each other about a shove that might or might not have been intentional. A pregnant woman got on, and nobody offered her a seat. Rage was in the air; no mercy would be found here.

But as the bus approached Seventh Avenue, the driver got on the intercom. “Folks,” he said, “I know you’ve had a rough day and you’re frustrated. I can’t do anything about the weather or traffic, but here’s what I can do. As each one of you gets off the bus, I will reach out my hand to you. As you walk by, drop your troubles into the palm of my hand, okay? Don’t take your problems home to your families tonight—just leave ‘em with me. My route goes right by the Hudson River, and when I drive by there later, I’ll open the window and throw your troubles in the water. Sound good?”

It was as if a spell had lifted. Everyone burst out laughing. Faces gleamed with surprised delight. People who’d been pretending for the past hour not to notice each other’s existence were suddenly grinning at each other like, is this guy serious?

Oh, he was serious.

At the next stop—just as promised—the driver reached out his hand, palm up, and waited. One by one, all the exiting commuters placed their hand just above his and mimed the gesture of dropping something into his palm. Some people laughed as they did this, some teared up—but everyone did it. The driver repeated the same lovely ritual at the next stop, too. And the next. All the way to the river.

We live in a hard world, my friends. Sometimes it’s extra difficult to be a human being. Sometimes you have a bad day. Sometimes you have a bad day that lasts for several years. You struggle and fail. You lose jobs, money, friends, faith, and love. You witness horrible events unfolding in the news, and you become fearful and withdrawn. There are times when everything seems cloaked in darkness. You long for the light but don’t know where to find it.

But what if you are the light? What if you’re the very agent of illumination that a dark situation begs for?

That’s what this bus driver taught me—that anyone can be the light, at any moment. This guy wasn’t some big power player. He wasn’t a spiritual leader. He wasn’t some media-savvy “influencer.” He was a bus driver—one of society’s most invisible workers. But he possessed real power, and he used it beautifully for our benefit.

When life feels especially grim, or when I feel particularly powerless in the face of the world’s troubles, I think of this man and ask myself, What can I do, right now, to be the light? Of course, I can’t personally end all wars, or solve global warming, or transform vexing people into entirely different creatures. I definitely can’t control traffic. But I do have some influence on everyone I brush up against, even if we never speak or learn each other’s name. How we behave matters because within human society everything is contagious—sadness and anger, yes, but also patience and generosity. Which means we all have more influence than we realize.

No matter who you are, or where you are, or how mundane or tough your situation may seem, I believe you can illuminate your world. In fact, I believe this is the only way the world will ever be illuminated—one bright act of grace at a time, all the way to the river.“

–Elizabeth Gilbert

#you are made of light #and that is always enough life to start with

[meloninthemorning]

Musée du Louvre, Paris, France | @_aya.lulu_ 

[meloninthemorning]

Being half in love with you is like going to war; one that I’m not just losing, I am the only participant.

There is a heart somewhere behind all this. I swear, behind all my messiness and calloused edges. It’s well-hidden but not forgotten.

I am tired of thinking of you as the bridge I never crossed; the idea that I was most in love with.

It’s half-funny and half-sad how I have had all these things living inside me for the past year and a half and at the end of it, it’s all just words.

[meloninthemorning]

Sometimes I think all we’ve got are our fucking skins. What we show to the world and everything else is all just a fucking mess. No one has their shit figured out (not really anyway) and we’re all just trying our very best to feel otherwise but the truth is we’re either just dancing in empty chapels or getting hit by buses.

#melon in the night

[meloninthemorning]

Queen and David Bowie - Under pressure (vocals only) 

YOU MUST HEAR THIS 

#music #bards of the new age

[meloninthemorning]

Ben Whishaw dedicating his golden globe award to Norman Scott

#ben whishaw #beautiful lovely man #a very english scandal

[meloninthemorning]

The beautiful Danielle Brooks. #SAGAwards

#humans #fashion #awards

[meloninthemorning]

#we live in a world where this happens #remember; and have hope

[meloninthemorning]

Les Misérables, Victor Hugo

Vol 4, Book 1

#god #just hit me in my soft unprotected underbelly why don't you #it's just you #somehow #it's always you #i've learned to surrender to it #they're not rachel

[meloninthemorning]

“We are born into this world, not another one. It’s not perfect, but it is what it is. This world presents some simple, certain truths. It helps us grow if we accept them, but many of these truths seem to trouble or frighten us. For instance, there is no light without darkness — and this troubles many of us — but without it, how else would we tell one from the other? We spend half of every day in darkness; surely we should make our peace with this. You may decide to see this as a metaphor. Many people do. I see it as a fact. Metaphors are beautiful ways of speaking about the truth. So are facts. Both tell us that time — and light, and darkness — moves in cycles. We move through them, too, often as passengers, but if our eyes are open, there is much to be learned along the way. A traveler learns more than a passenger. When darkness comes, a traveler learns to be brave, for they know the light will return. Anyone who’s spent a night alone in the woods knows this. When a dark age comes, hold the light inside. That’s where it lives anyway. There are forces of darkness — and beings of darkness — and they are real and have always been around us. They’re part of the dance, just as you and I are; they’re just listening to different music. This may be the most troubling truth we will ever know. Many of us live most of our lives and brush up against this reality only rarely. It is far from pleasant, but wishing it were otherwise will not make it so. So may I offer a suggestion: When a dark age comes, just as you would at night, hold the light inside you. Others, I can tell you, have already learned to do the same. In time, you will learn to recognize the light, in yourself and others. In this way you will find each other. Together, you will make the light stronger. This truth I know as sure as the dawn: Darkness will always yield to light, when the light is strong.”

— Margaret Lanterman, Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier, by Mark Frost (via jedlelands)

#what light there is inside you is always enough

[meloninthemorning]

“The best moments in reading are when you come across something–a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things–which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.”

Alan Bennett, The History Boys

“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive. Only if we face these open wounds in ourselves can we understand them in other people.”

James Baldwin, Life Magazine (May 24, 1963)

“Fiction is a kind of compassion-generating machine that saves us from sloth. Is life kind or cruel? Yes, Literature answers. Are people good or bad? You bet, says Literature. But unlike other systems of knowing, Literature declines to eradicate one truth in favor of another; rather, it teaches us to abide with the fact that, in their own way, all things are true, and helps us, in the face of this terrifying knowledge, continually push ourselves in the direction of Open the Hell Up.”

George Saunders, O Magazine (2014)

“I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it’s true I’m here, and I’m just as strange as you.”

Frida Kahlo, The Diary of Frida Kahlo

[meloninthemorning]

TONIGHT WE FEAST, TOMORROW WE DO BATTLE!!!!!

[meloninthemorning]

“I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. If you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good, either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.”

— Roald Dahl (via quotemadness)

#things we know but forget #at the end of the day be forgiving of your own humanity #run run run towards what you want to love