#National Poetry Month 2021

[april-is]

April 1, 2024: vocabulary, Safia Elhillo

vocabulary Safia Elhillo

fact:

the arabic word هواء (hawa) means wind thearabicwordهوى (hawa) means love

  test: (multiple choice)   abdelhalim said you left me holding wind in my hands                           or   abdelhalim said you left me holding love in my hands

           abdelhalim was left                empty                                              or            abdelhalim was left                full

  fairouz said                   o wind, take me to my country                            or   fairouz said                   o love, take me to my country

           fairouz is looking for             vehicle                                              or            fairouz is looking for             fuel

  oum kalthoum said       where the wind stops her ships, we stop ours                            or   oum kalthoum said       where love stops her ships, we stop ours

                oum kalthoum is           stuck                                                    or                 oum kalthoum is           home

--

It's here, it's here; happy National Poetry Month! In case you forgot: I'll be sharing a poem every day in April.

Want it as an email? Sign up here and it'll be whisked to your inbox by a team of digital carrier pigeons.

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==

This is, uh, the 20th year of this project??? See many years of past selections by browsing the archives or exploring the poems sent on today's date in:

2023: Reasons to Live Through the Apocalypse, Nikita Gill 2022: New Year, Kate Baer 2021: Instructions on Not Giving Up, Ada Limón 2020: Motto, Bertolt Brecht 2019: Separation, W.S. Merwin 2018: Good Bones, Maggie Smith 2017: Better Days, A.F. Moritz 2016: Jenny Kiss’d Me, Leigh Hunt 2015: The Night House, Billy Collins 2014: Tim Riggins Speaks of Waterfalls, Nico Alvarado 2013: Nan Hardwicke Turns Into a Hare, Wendy Pratt 2012: A Short History of the Apple, Dorianne Laux 2011: New York Poem, Terrance Hayes 2010: On Wanting to Tell [ ] about a Girl Eating Fish Eyes, Mary Szybist 2009: A Little Tooth, Thomas Lux 2008: The Sciences Sing a Lullabye, Albert Goldbarth 2007: Elegy of Fortinbras, Zbigniew Herbert 2006: When Leather is a Whip, by Martin Espada 2005: Parents, William Meredith

Thank you for being here!

#language #arabic #but it was just the 15th year like yesterday #how how! #safia elhillo

[harvardfineartslib]

April is Arab American Month and National Poetry Month.

“I write what I see and I paint what I am.” – Etel Adnan

Etel Adnan (1925 – 2021) was a Lebanese-American poet, philosopher, writer, and visual artist. Adnan had been painting for several decades and made visual works in a variety of media including artist’s books, films, and tapestries.

Adnan was born in Beirut, Lebanon to a Greek Catholic mother and a Muslim-Turkish father, who was a high-ranking Ottoman officer born in Damascus, Ottoman Syria. She grew up speaking Greek and Turkish in a mostly Arabic-speaking society. After enrolling at a French Lebanese Catholic School at the age of five, her primary language became French and her early works were written in French. She also studied English in her youth, and most of her later work was written in English. Adnan studied philosophy at the Sorbonne, the University of California at Berkeley, and Harvard University, later teaching philosophy at San Rafael’s Dominican College from 1958 to 1972.

Adnan’s love of language and interest in Arabic calligraphy is evident in her visual art, especially in leporellos, little books with folded concertina-style pages. But color was also language to Adnan, and one can sense that in her paintings.

Later in her life, Adnan openly identified as lesbian. She was survived by her partner, Simone Fattal, who is also a visual artist.

The Fine Arts Library owns Adnan’s artist’s book entitled “The Book of the Sea.” The work is made up like a sample book of Arabic calligraphy handwritten by Adnan, presenting the poems in Arabic and in English, with the original text and translations facing each other.

The book of the sea Etel Adnan ; bound by Thomas Zwang. Livre de la mer. English & Arabic Poestenkill, N.Y. : Kaldewey Press, 2010. 1 volume (unpaged) ; 21 x 31 cm. Edition Kaldewey ; v. 53 English and Arabic HOLLIS number: 99156665172003941

#EtelAdnan #ArabAmericanArtist #ArabAmericanMonth #LebaneseAmericanPoet #LebaneseAmericanArtist #HarvardFineArtsLibrary #Fineartslibrary #Harvard #HarvardLibrary #SpecialCollections #NationalPoetryMonth

[inevitablemoment]

MARTHA RYAN - OC INFO

FULL NAME: Martha Rosemarie Ryan

NICKNAMES: Mar (by everyone), The Emissary of Tiamat (by Tiamat, Gozer, and Ariadne), Titania (by Jonathan)

FACECLAIM: Donna Dixon

FANDOM: Ghostbusters (1984-1989; 2021)

BIRTHDAY: July 20, 1958

ZODIAC SIGN: Cancer

SEXUALITY: Bisexual

GENDER: Female (she/her/hers)

OCCUPATION: School nurse (1981-1987) || Unofficial medic for the Ghostbusters (1985-1987) || Doctor of internal medicine (1991-currently)

BIRTHPLACE: Ann Arbor, Michigan

LIVES IN: Ann Arbor, Michigan (birth-age 10 months) || San Francisco, CA (age 10 months-18) || Philadelphia, PA (age 18-22) || Manhattan, New York City, New York (age 22-29) || Paris, France (age 29-39) || Nice, France (age 39-currently)

NATIONALITY: American, French (naturalized)

FAMILY:

Jonathan Seibert (fiancee, deceased 1979)

William Ryan (father, deceased 2010)

Francine Ryan [nee O'Keefe] (mother, deceased 2012)

Oliver Ryan (brother)

Maureen Ryan [nee Sweeney] (sister-in-law)

Kerrie Ryan (niece)

Janis Ryan (sister)

MOODBOARD

CHARACTERISTICS: Melancholy, people-pleasing, feisty, impatient, kind-hearted, brave, quick-tempered, compassionate, introverted, sorrowful, lonely, confident, stubborn

LIKES: Working in medicine, poetry, outdoorsy activities, research, working with the students, traveling, mythology

DISLIKES: Driving, nightmares, therapy, grand romantic gestures, her people-pleasing tendencies, headaches

WEAPON OF CHOICE:

Medical knowledge

First-aid kit

PKE Meter (during the Collectors arc)

Proton Pack (during the Collectors arc)

Ghost Trap (during the Collectors arc)

Gigameter (during the Collectors arc)

Telepathy (during the Tiamat arc)

Telekinesis (during the Tiamat arc)

Premonitions (during the Tiamat arc)

Reality warping (during the Tiamat arc)

Hand-to-hand combat (during the Tiamat arc)

Quick healing (during the Tiamat arc)

Heightened senses (during the Tiamat arc)

Quick reflexes (during the Tiamat arc)

Levitation (during the Tiamat arc)

OTHER PERSONAL INFO:

During her sophomore year of college, she met literature student Jonathan Seibert. They dated for about a year before they got engaged. Unfortunately, in 1979, as they were driving from the airport to Martha's childhood home, they were hit by a drunk driver. Jonathan was instantly killed while Martha survived. As she had been driving the car at the time, she blamed herself for his death and her grief deeply affected her future relationship with Ray.

After the car accident, Martha began suffering from chronic pain in her left knee. She regularly attends physical therapy to help cope.

Martha originally wanted to be a doctor, but decided to pursue nursing instead in order to please her father, who was very old-fashioned and whom she admired. After receiving her nursing degree, she had trouble finding an open position in a hospital and took a job as a school nurse.

Jonathan's nickname for her, "Titania," came from the faerie queen in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

She had been selected from birth as an emissary and a vessel for Tiamat; following Tiamat's defeat, she broke things off with Ray (whom she didn't know was planning on proposing to her) out of both guilt for her actions under Tiamat's control and because she still hadn't fully grieved Jonathan's death. She moved to Paris for a fresh start, attending medical school there, and has lived in France ever since.

INSPIRATION: Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Elisabeth das Musical), Emily Grace (Murdoch Mysteries), Jenny Moran (Ghostbusters - IDW Comics), Martha Jones (Doctor Who), Elliot Stabler (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Ava Bekker (Chicago Med), Karen Vick (Psych), Izzie Stevens (Grey's Anatomy), Wanda Maximoff (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

NAME ANALYSIS:

Playlist available here

#Ghostbusters #Ella's OCs #Donna Dixon #Ghostbusters IDW #Ghostbusters 1984 #Tiamat Arc #Collectors Arc #Cathleen Lives AU #Martha Ryan #OC: Martha Ryan #OC: How Do You Keep Doing This?

[offender42085]

Post 0396

Christopher Malec, Florida inmate L74943, born 1990, incarceration intake at age 21, sentenced to life

Robbery with a deadly weapon, Home invasion

In many ways, he is just a man at a young age that took the wrong path; a young man who had not found his place and purpose in the larger world.

Over time, he has earned the come to be unknown as the “Florida Prison Poet Laureate” receiving a voice and recognition larger than just within the prison walls where he lives.

Florida Prison Poet Laureate -- That’s an honorary position awarded by Klarreich’s Exchange for Change writing program in conjunction with the O, Miami Poetry Festival, and he’s just the second poet to hold the title.

"Writing has always been sort of an interest to me," Malec said. "But really it was when Exchange for Change  got offered at Dade Correctional institution that I became interested in it. I felt a really positive energy from actually taking the courses, and I started getting really good feedback. And it just became a passion from there. That was like 2014, I think."

Malec will hold his title for two years, from 2021 to 2023. And the assignment will keep him pretty busy.

"So, the main duty is to be the voice for the incarcerated population for the Florida system," he said. "But mainly whenever a holiday hits, I should have a work of poetry ready to represent both our voice and usually the subject matter. So if it's Mother's Day, then something to represent mothers. If it’s Women's History Month, something to celebrate women. MLK Day, you want to celebrate the civil rights there. It's our way to link to the free world. So it's my job to represent us. But it's also my job to celebrate things that everybody celebrates."

Representing the voice of Florida’s prison population is a big job. The state has one of the highest incarceration rates in the U.S. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, 795 people out of 100,000 in Florida are imprisoned. That's 130 more people per 100,000 than the national average.

Malec says he knows that because people in jail are out of sight, they are often not on the minds of the general public. Malec himself was sentenced to life without parole at age 21 for an armed robbery. There’s little chance of his release.

"As an incarcerated individual, you’re forgotten. You know what I mean, you become, you become a part of the population that isn't remembered anymore," Malec said. "We're not represented, people don't do large protests for us. We don't have we don't have real representation. We don't have anybody supporting us that the only people that support us, is us."

2s

[lboogie1906]

Amanda S. C. Gorman (born March 7, 1998) is a poet and activist. Her work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora. She was the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate. She published the poetry book The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough in 2015. In 2021, she delivered her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the inauguration of President Joe Biden.

Her inauguration poem generated international acclaim, two of her books achieved best-seller status, and she obtained a professional management contract. She was highlighted in Time magazine’s 100 Next list under the category of “Phenoms”. She became the first poet to perform at the Super Bowl when she delivered her poem “Chorus of the Captains” at Super Bowl LV.

Born in Los Angeles, she was raised by her single mother, Joan Wicks, a 6th-grade English teacher in Watts with her two siblings. Her twin sister, Gabrielle, is an activist and filmmaker.

As a senior, she received a Milken Family Foundation college scholarship. She studied sociology at Harvard, graduating cum laude as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She spent a semester studying in Madrid.

She was inspired to become a youth delegate for the UN in 2013 after watching a speech by Pakistani Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai. She was chosen as the first youth poet laureate of Los Angeles in 2014. She published the poetry book The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough in 2015.

In 2016, she founded the nonprofit organization One Pen One Page, a youth writing and leadership program. In 2017, she became the first author to be featured on XQ Institute’s Book of the Month, a monthly giveaway to share inspiring Gen Z’s favorite books. She wrote a tribute for African American athletes for Nike and has a book deal with Viking Children’s Books to write two children’s picture books. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #womenhistorymonth

[coochiequeens]

Today for Women History Month we honor the birthdays of two women in the arts, Janet Collins and Amanda Gorman

Janet Collins (March 7, 1917 – May 28, 2003) was an African American ballet dancer, choreographer, and teacher. She performed on Broadway, in films, and appeared frequently on television.[1] She was among the pioneers of black ballet dancing, one of the few classically trained Black dancers of her generation.

Janet Faye[2] Collins was born in New Orleans, and at the age of four moved with her family to Los Angeles, California, where Collins received her first dance training at a Catholic community center. She studied primarily with Carmelita Maracci, Lester Horton, and Adolph Bolm, who were among the few ballet teachers who accepted black students. She also had fond memories of studying with Los Angeles dance teacher Dorothy Lyndall.

Amanda S. C. Gorman[1] (born March 7, 1998)[2] is an American poet and activist. Her work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora. Gorman was the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate. She published the poetry book The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough in 2015. In 2021, she delivered her poem "The Hill We Climb" at the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden.

Her inauguration poem generated international acclaim, and shortly thereafter, two of her books achieved best-seller status, and she obtained a professional management contract. In February 2021, Gorman was highlighted in Time magazine's 100 Next list under the category of "Phenoms", with a profile written by Lin-Manuel Miranda.[3] That same month, Gorman became the first poet to perform at the Super Bowl, when she delivered her poem "Chorus of the Captains" at Super Bowl LV.

Born in Los Angeles, California,[5][6] Gorman was raised by her single mother, Joan Wicks, a 6th-grade English teacher in Watts,[7] with her two siblings.[5][8] Her twin sister, Gabrielle, is an activist[9] and filmmaker.[10]Gorman has said she grew up in an environment with limited television access.[11] She has described her young self as a "weird child" who enjoyed reading and writing and was encouraged by her mother.[5]

Gorman has an auditory processing disorder and is hypersensitive to sound.[5] She also had a speech impediment during childhood.[12][13]Gorman participated in speech therapy during her childhood and Elida Kocharian of The Harvard Crimson wrote in 2018, "Gorman doesn't view her speech impediment as a crutch—rather, she sees it as a gift and a strength."[14] Gorman told The Harvard Gazette in 2018, "I always saw it as a strength because since I was experiencing these obstacles in terms of my auditory and vocal skills, I became really good at reading and writing. I realized that at a young age when I was reciting the Marianne Deborah Williamson quote that 'Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure' to my mom."[1] In 2021, Gorman told CBS This Morning co-host Anthony Mason that she used songs as a form of speech therapy, and explained, "My favorite thing to practice was the song 'Aaron Burr, Sir,' from Hamilton because it is jam-packed with R's. And I said, 'if I can keep up with Leslie in this track, then I am on my way to being able to say this R in a poem."

#Women’s History Month #Janey Collins #March 7 #women in the arts #African American women in ballet #Amanda Gorman #African American women poets #The Hill We Climb #Best selling books by women #Call Us What We Carry

[jasminesuntrell]

We Did it Joe!

I FINALLY BROKE THE CURSE ON MY ABILITY TO WRITE. I did it. My first successful National Poetry Writing Month since 2019. My first time writing consistently since 2021. I did it. I think I'm going to try to make it a full year. I won't always post what I write but I'd like to write something everyday. I'm gonna write my way back to myself. Yeah.

#twcpoetry #poetry #napowrimo #writer's block #heartbreak

[libunityfan69]

why auscap.. whys he australian… i need to know this lore.. it keeps me up at night

glad u asked because im so insane but everyone* i talk to just accepts auscap without question and it hnngngh

so for a little backstory it started in september last year** when i went away with a family friend who had also watched centricide and i asked "wouldnt it be funny if ancap centricide was australian" and there wasnt a single thought behind our eyes when we unaimoiusly agreed yes that would be funny and que the next 2 or so months of being the most annoying headcanoner ever but hey it was fun.

at the same time i was in 9th grade english class in australia and our topic was poetry analysis of silly bogans pre/during the gold rush and the more we analysed the more i was like "hey this shits kinda like ancap centricide" because idk if you have ever been in an australian english/history class but theres a lot of talk about the "[white] australian identity" mainly around when brits began moving here outside of sendign their convicts and during ww1. and the australian identity is mostly centred around being somewhat anti authoritarian and while not technically based in capitalism it was about rich british people getting a taste of the bush and not shutting up ever

because of [white] australias history being in the convicts sent over from england theres an intrinsic sense of anti authoritarianism that was albiet a lot more common in the 19th and 20th centuries but i digress its still relevant idc because it was used in these little bushmen shit where they would idolise this life living outside the government at the time

so the poem that we used for the exam at the end of year 9 english unit 4, while i dont rember the name of the poem nor the writer, i do remember what it was about and what it was about was this guy writing for 6 fucking pages about the bush and how it was so cool and literally made for him he loves it so much and at the back of the pages there was a little biography of the author and you find out that this fucking guy hadnt stepped foot in australia before turning thirty, hes some rich fucking english bloke who came over for the gold rush and left almost immediatly after. the poem we were analysing came from a guy who had never even seen the bush !!! and idk i think thats pretty ancap core

and for a last round of background info from september-november 2021 i actually dmed jreg back n forth about it and ended up getting jrem to confirm auscap as real, and it was real for a whole month before the gender tier list stream on twitch where i asked and jre said that ideologies cant have nationalities um !!! thats not what u told me in dms !!!! also i didnt have any socials at the time that interacted with the centricide fandom apart from my discord so if u were in the authunity server i am NOT sorry for being so annoying about it

tl:dr white australian history is anarcho capitalist also i thought it would be funny

*everyone excludes ps, the owner of the athunity server, who hated auscap so much he banned the use of the word "australia" in the server, fuck you ps-and nankeen and riley, my australian buddies who actually inquired on auscaps existence yall r real ones (i havent talked to nankeen in 8 months)

**i say september because TECHNICALLY the headcanon + first dm to jreg happened in late spetember but i celebrate the anniversary on the 8th of october because that was when my sister edited the image of ancap and made auscap into something tangeble

#MY GOD ty for asking i didnt realise i had so much to say #this is why i associate ancap with my 9th grade english class #not that ive ever told anyone that lol #jreg #ancap centricide #auscap #why am i getting asked auscap lore and not centricide hamilton au lore please please please ask me i have a 6600 word lore document to say

[thebrandondowning]

Happy National Poetry Month! For all of April, I will be presenting something different. From 2021-2022 I worked on a 'collage novella', exploring a celestial and earthly love affair between John Keats and Emily Dickinson...look for 1-2 daily posts all through April, and let me know what you think as the story progresses...

#poetry #collage #national poetry month #john keats #emily dickinson #keats #dickinson #love story

[dirtyrobber70]

I posted 8,523 times in 2022

That's 8,397 more posts than 2021!

107 posts created (1%)

8,416 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@coonazz74

@anthrofreshtodeath

@themarbledfox

@swanqueenisendgameyo

@whitebeltwriter

I tagged 3,291 of my posts in 2022

#rizzles - 538 posts

#rizzoli and isles - 526 posts

#jane rizzoli - 339 posts

#maura isles - 311 posts

#aloto - 299 posts

#a league of their own - 102 posts

#fandom life - 51 posts

#sasha alexander - 46 posts

#fanfiction - 45 posts

#greta gill - 42 posts

Longest Tag: 135 characters

#take ''leia comforting luke over obi wan but the mourning of her planet not being acknowledged'' and add ''now leia has arguably a more

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

ALOTO's Lea Robinson on Queer Family and What Connects Us

61 notes - Posted August 17, 2022

#4

70 notes - Posted August 16, 2022

#3

In honor of two of my favorite things, Rizzles and National Poetry Month, I humbly submit to you a Rizzles limerick . Ahem....

There once was a Jane C. Rizzoli

whose Ma made a kick ass cannoli

As divine as they were

Jane was pretty damn sure

Maura's cleavage was something more holy

70 notes - Posted April 2, 2022

#2

Can we all please give it up for Dr. Maura Isles in this ep?? She's abducted, handcuffed, chloroformed,... She busts the pipe loose with her BELT BUCKLE (🔥), mind fucks Joe Harris, finds a weapon, escapes down the tunnel and KEEPS HER SHIT TOGETHER when Jane finds her.

84 notes - Posted March 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Source: aixqtlupet.deviantart.com

This is sooo perfect!!

85 notes - Posted October 13, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#my 2022 tumblr year in review #a whole lotta rizzles #Instagram

[hepatosaurus]

I posted 1,417 times in 2022

That's 192 more posts than 2021!

39 posts created (3%)

1,378 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@opalescent-potato

@yaomei

@januariat

@elucubrare

@liz-the-lemur

I tagged 1,415 of my posts in 2022

#art - 92 posts

#fire emblem: three houses - 68 posts

#illustration - 58 posts

#poetry - 55 posts

#tumblr - 54 posts

#fandom - 45 posts

#lol - 39 posts

#laugh rule - 38 posts

#music - 36 posts

#cats cats cats - 35 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#ok and special shoutout to anthony hecht's a hill which makes my brain scream a hill!!! a hill a hill a hill a hiiiilll every time i read it

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

national poetry month, day 4

Hangul Abecedarian Genghis Khan, my father says, using a soft G, Never saw our peninsula with his own eyes. Don’t quote me on that— Recall isn’t my strong suit. I’ve convinced myself Memorizing dates, for example, is outmoded. Better to learn the overall movements, Social conventions rising and falling, Empires and their changing mascots. Genghis sired so many, they say, his children’s Children’s children’s genes sowed an entire Continent of grasslands. If  you press your ear To my blood’s topography, you’ll hear hooves Pounding, though I can’t remember when it started, or Whose king it is coming in the distance. —Franny Choi

6 notes - Posted April 4, 2022

#4

feels like I added about sixty billion people from twitter and now my queue is SO HEALTHY…I will never run out, ty for your quality posts and reblogs everyone

6 notes - Posted November 18, 2022

#3

national poetry month, day 2

The Gate I had no idea that the gate I would step through to finally enter this world would be the space my brother’s body made. He was a little taller than me: a young man but grown, himself by then, done at twenty-eight, having folded every sheet, rinsed every glass he would ever rinse under the cold and running water. This is what you have been waiting for, he used to say to me. And I’d say, What? And he’d say, This—holding up my cheese and mustard sandwich. And I’d say, What? And he’d say, This, sort of looking around. —Marie Howe

6 notes - Posted April 2, 2022

#2

See the full post

6 notes - Posted November 10, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

national poetry month, day 1

postcard from cape cod just now I saw one yellow butterfly migrating across buzzard’s bay how brave I thought or foolish like sending a poem across months of silence and on such delicate wings —Linda Pastan

12 notes - Posted April 1, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#honestly yes this is pretty representative lol #tumblr #end of year things

[april-is]

April 1, 2023: Reasons to Live Through the Apocalypse, Nikita Gill

Reasons to Live Through the Apocalypse Nikita Gill Sunrises. People you have still to meet and laugh with. Songs about love, peace, anger, and revolution. Walks in the woods. The smile you exchange with a stranger when you experience beauty accidentally together. Butterflies. Seeing your grandpar- ents again. the moon in all her forms, whether half or full. Dogs. Birthdays and half-birthdays. That feeling of floating in love. Watching birds eat from bird feeders. The waves of happiness that follow the end of sadness. Brown eyes. Watching a boat cross an empty sea. Sunsets. Dipping your feet in the river. Balconies. Cake. The wind in your face when you roll the car window down an open highway. Falling asleep to the sound of a steady heartbeat. Warm cups of tea on cold days. Hugs. Night skies. Art museums. Books filled with everything you do not yet know. Long conversations. Long-lost friends. Poetry.

==

‘bout that time, eh, chaps?! Happy National Poetry Month once again. 

As a reminder, you’ve signed up to receive a poem every day in April. Anyone can do the same right here. Or follow along on Twitter, Tumblr, or RSS. Hooray, poetry.

==

Many(!!) years of Aprils predate this one. You can browse the archives by jumping to the poem sent on today’s date in:

2022: New Year, Kate Baer 2021: Instructions on Not Giving Up, Ada Limón 2020: Motto, Bertolt Brecht 2019: Separation, W.S. Merwin 2018: Good Bones, Maggie Smith 2017: Better Days, A.F. Moritz 2016: Jenny Kiss’d Me, Leigh Hunt 2015: The Night House, Billy Collins 2014: Tim Riggins Speaks of Waterfalls, Nico Alvarado 2013: Nan Hardwicke Turns Into a Hare, Wendy Pratt 2012: A Short History of the Apple, Dorianne Laux 2011: New York Poem, Terrance Hayes 2010: On Wanting to Tell [ ] about a Girl Eating Fish Eyes, Mary Szybist 2009: A Little Tooth, Thomas Lux 2008: The Sciences Sing a Lullabye, Albert Goldbarth 2007: Elegy of Fortinbras, Zbigniew Herbert 2006: When Leather is a Whip, by Martin Espada 2005: Parents, William Meredith

(Insider secret: you can usually find my top tier favs by looking at what was sent on April 1 and April 30.)

Thanks for being here, friends.

#prose poem #lists #singing about the dark times #nikita gill #apocalypse #feast on your life

[nolabballgirl]

Eid 2022: Muslim Books Wrap-up and Review Part ii

so in part i here, i focused on recently published contemporary literature/poetry, fantasy, and graphic novels (2017 to present) with muslim main characters i've read over the year. now i'm going to turn to young adult and lgbtq muslim fiction. frankly i was impressed by how many books have come out in the last few years alone in these categories. now i wish the quality of the writing was just as amazing (but that’s another story 🌙)

these books represent a wide spectrum of the muslim experience. from practicing, non-practicing, or questioning one's faith, to spanning cultures, nationalities, and ethnic origins from across the globe. and we're only scratching the surface. without further ado:

ya:

all my rage (2022/sabaa tahir *tw: abuse, addiction) - this book fully wrecked me. it's so heartbreaking and yet hopeful at the same time. a lovely friends to lovers story of two pakistani american kids living in the mojave desert in california, whose respective families are just trying to live out "the american dream." p.s. tahir's "an ember in the ashes" is an awesome fantasy series!

salaam with love (2022/sara sharaf beg*tw: gun violence) - good post ramadan read as it follows a pakistani american teen from a small town who visits relatives in nyc for the entire month of ramadan. it's a coming of age story but also about the main learning more about the religion and ramadan in general. there's an unnecessary subplot involving gun violence that took away from the tone mid-story, and the ending was slightly unbelievable, but otherwise a fun read.

misfits in love (2021/s.k. ali) - this is a sequel to saints and misfits but you don't really need to have read the first one to read this. we follow our egyptian-indian hijabi protagonist at her brother's wedding and like all weddings, there's lots of drama (especially boy drama!) this was light-hearted and fun, but also did a good job in addressing intra-muslim racism (especially anti-black racism) and how to cope when it occurs amongst family members.

all american muslim girl (2019/nadine jolie courtney) - despite the cheesy title, i thought this was a fresh take on the muslim teen experience. it's a coming of age story of a white passing Circassian girl from a non-religious muslim family near atlanta, georgia. in exploring her heritage, racism, and fitting in, she comes to islam and decides to be muslim. so it's all about her finding her faith and making sense of it all, with some really layered intra-faith explorations amongst her friend group too.

love, hate, and other filters (2018/samira ahmed*tw: terrorism) - okay, this book was a mess. ostensibly a coming of age story about an indian muslim girl living in the midwest us. but it was full of cliches (brown girl pining for the white crush; oppressive indian parents, etc.) structurally, the author drops a mass casualty/terrorism event in the middle of the book, but then picks up with the "romance" like nothing happened. very little grappling with the main's cultural and religious identity. and the ending is incomprehensible given the 200 pages that came before it.

a very large expanse of sea (2018/tahereh mafi) - a coming of age story set in 2002 (right after 9/11) of a hijabi persian breakdancing teen. i enjoyed the subversion of stereotypes and the realistic depiction of racism and double standards in that time. i could have done with a little less romance but overall the main's conflicting emotions felt very real.

lgbtq lit (mostly wlw):

note: there aren't too many books with practicing queer muslim rep yet. most have mains that fall into the category of culturally muslim/raised in a muslim household but marginally practicing or not at all. for practicing rep, in addition to one book below, i would highly recommend watching "we are lady parts" on peacock (wlw hijabi who regularly prays!)

the henna wars (2020/adiba jaigirdar) - wlw high school rivals romance between a bengali girl and brazilian irish classmate in ireland (not exactly enemies to lovers but eh, close enough). so this isn't the most well-written book, but it was cute. props to an interracial woc couple and complicated sibling dynamics.

hani and ishu's guide to fake dating (2021/adiba jaigirdar) - fake dating and grumpy/sunshine tropes galore between muslim and hindu (?) bengali high school girls in ireland. kudos for a practicing muslim bisexual co-main! a nice exploration of culture and religion overall with both girls, who are quite well-developed on their own. i just wish we got more of their relationship together which felt the most underdeveloped of the whole novel so i wasn’t as invested in their relationship as i was in them separately. but overall, cute.

the love and lies of rukhsana ali (2019/sabina khan *tw: intense homophobia; sexual assault; death) - okay, i really disliked this book. setting aside the writing style which i did not care for, this book verged on trauma porn for me by taking the kitchen sink of homophobia, misogyny, racism, etc. and throwing it all at this poor bengali girl. yes, life is not all sunshine and roses but this was bleak. and don't get me started on the ending! the book would have benefitted from sticking with 2-3 topics and exploring them well.

zara hossain is here (2021/sabina khan *tw:islamophobia) - so i liked this better than her first book (love lies of rukhsana ali). but this author still has the propensity of putting her queer characters through harrowing situations so be warned. this novel is about a bisexual pakistani teenager in texas and the racism and islamophobia she and her family face. again i think focusing on a few major themes would have helped focus the storyline.

you exist too much (2020/zaina arafat *tw: addiction) this was a hard book, not only for the subject matter but because the main, a bisexual palestinian woman, is pretty unlikeable. but the writing is honest and there's something to be said for rooting for a woman to overcome her addictions, tackle her mental health issues, and stop her self-destructive behavior. i also enjoyed the vignettes of self-discovery from her childhood in palestine/jordan.

honorable mention: darius the great is not okay (2018/adib khorram) - this is cheating because the main isn't muslim; he's a persian, zoroastrian boy. but this book is so good and really deftly tackles the subject of mental illness, loneliness, family pressures and trying to fit in. it mostly takes place in iran with some gorgeous descriptions of the architecture/mosques in yazd too.

#muslim books #muslim authors #eid 2022 #young adult #wlw books #lgbtq literature #ya books #book reviews #book recommendations #post ramadan reading

[brookston]

Holidays 8.18

Holidays

Armed Forces Day (Macedonia)

Arbor Day (Pakistan)

Bad Poetry Day

Butch Appreciation Day

Constitution Day (Indonesia)

Gambrinus Night (Ireland)

Helium Discovery Day

Janmashtami (a,k.a. Sri Krishna Jayanti or Sri Krishna Astami; Parts of India)

Long Tan Day (Australia)

Mail Order Catalog Day

National Badge Ribbon Day

National Science Day (Thailand)

Never Give Up Day

Scott Pilgrim Day

Serendipity Day

Virginia Dare Day (Roanoke Island)

World Breast Cancer Research Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Fajita Day

National Ice Cream Pie Day

National Soft Serve Day

Pinot Noir Day

3rd Thursday in August

Surströmingspremiären (Sour Herring Premiere; Sweden) [3rd Thursday]

Feast Days

Agapitus of Palestrina (Christian; Saint)

Alberto Hurtado (Christian; Saint)

Clare of Monte Falco (Christian; Saint)

Cook (Positivist; Saint)

Cousin Monster (Muppetism)

Daig of Inniskeen (Christian; Saint)

Evan (a.k.a. Inan; Christian; Saint)

Fiacre (Christian; Saint)

Florus and Laurus (Christian; Saint)

Helena of Constantinople (Roman Catholic Church)

Poetry Day (Pastafarian)

Richard Wagner Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

William Porcher DuBose (Episcopal Church)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Sakimake (先負 Japan) [Bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon.]

Unlucky 18th (Philippines) [2 of 3]

Premieres

Accepted (Film; 2006)

Deliverance (Film; 1972)

The Hitman’s Bodyguard (Film; 2017)

Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov (U.S. Novel; 1958)

Nine Perfect Strangers (TV Series; 2021)

Snakes on a Plane (Film; 2006)

The Tick (TV Series; 2016)

Today’s Name Days

Claudia, Helene (Austria)

Florije, Jela, Jelena, Jelka (Croatia)

Helena (Czech Republic)

Agapetus (Denmark)

Elina, Heleene, Helen, Helena, Helene, Hell, Hella, Helle, Hellen, Helli, Ilona (Estonia)

Leevi (Finland)

Hélène, Laétitia, Laëtitia (France)

Helene (Germany)

Flora, Floros (Greece)

Ilona (Hungary)

Elena (Italy)

Helēna, Liene (Latvia)

Gendvilė, Ilona, Mantautas, Saulenė, Saulenis (Lithuania)

Tormod, Torodd (Norway)

Agapit, Bogusława, Bronisław, Bronisz, Helena, Ilona, Klara, Tworzysława (Poland)

Elena, Helena (Slovakia)

Agapito, Alberto, Elena (Spain)

Ellen, Lena (Sweden)

Flora, Laura, Myron (Ukraine)

Aileen, Eileen, Elaina, Elaine, Eleanor, Elena, Eliana, Ella, Ellen, Ellie, Helen, Helena, Iliana, Lena, Leonora, Nell, Nellie, Nelly (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 230 of 2022; 135 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 33 of 2022

Celtic Tree Calendar: Coll (Hazel) [Day 13 of 28]

Chinese: Month 7 (Lányuè), Day 21 (Gui-Mao)

Chinese Year of the: Tiger (until January 22, 2023)

Hebrew: 21 Av 5782

Islamic: 20 Muharram 1444

J Cal: 20 Hasa; Fiveday [20 of 30]

Julian: 5 August 2022

Moon: 50% Third Quarter

Positivist: 6 Gutenberg (9th Month) [Cook]

Runic Half Month: As (Gods) [Day 8 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 59 of 90)

Zodiac: Leo (Day 27 of 31)

#calendar #Holidays

[peaamlipoetrydoctor]

Day One /// NaPoWri----NO

Having another go at revisiting the prompts from April 2022's National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo).

Day One was a prompt to write a poem about the body but/and it was also a prompt to structure a poem with reference to the structure of a previously existing piece.

I didn't really understand it in that way at the time, but have just written a similar exercise for my class with Poetry School London where we broke down the elements in a particular poem and used the same elements as a starting-point scaffold for a new piece of our own on entirely different theme.

So, this was the prompt as given -

>>> FROM a workshop Maureen Thorson took with Beatrix Gates in 2021 and >>> BASED on the prose poem "A Story About The Body" by Robert Hass with the following elements >>> theme should be a story about the body >>> should involve an encounter between two people >>> at least one line of dialogue >>> at least one crisp image.

Originally I thought that maybe I'd just edit the poem I wrote on this day first time round, but as it turns out nearly 1/3rd of those poems, including the Day One poem, are "on topic" to be early draft material for what be evolving/coalescing into my next poetry pamphlet. (The list of poems in this group are listed in blue at the end. of this post...)

So - new poem then... HERE GOES... /// [TO BE CONTINUED...]

This list originally appeared in and is copied from a post on 5th May:

01 April - Fog Gets to Know Her New Body

03 April - Glosa, after (and not entirely in agreement with Elizabeth Barrett Browning) - a negotiation about "non-heroic” kinds of love

06 April - Things Fall Apart (from Yeats, The Second Coming)

08 April - Papparazzi - the theme of different lives / different choices

10 April - Lost Love Poem II - the II in the title here is because I wrote Lost Love Poem I for the Mid-Life sequence in question…

13 April - Temerity - on why I insist on hoping-beyond-hope

16 April - Persistence - effectively the same poem, different form?

21 April - To Dream or To Scream? - a poem about my ex-husband (the dream/scream of the [TERRIBLE] title refer to paintings BTW)

27 April - String Theory - different lives again

and the “bonus” poem, Reminiscing with Alice - nostalgia.

#poetry #poetic #prose poem #writing prompt #napowrimo

[terranoctis]

Favorites of January

It's been kind of fun to let my whim take me where it wants to each day to discover new stories and songs. Who knows if I'll keep it up for the rest of the year as I get busier, but I'm happy to have been able to do this if at least for this month. I'm going to jot down a few thoughts so I can look back at this to see what I liked the most at the end of the year.

Films:

Monster (2023) At it's heart, this is a film that is concerned with perceptions and the misconstrued perspectives one has of another. The film proceeds in a Rashomon-style that isn't new to film or shows, but it's perhaps one of the best written and cinematic execution of the trope I've yet to see. Director Koreeda does such a phenomenal job of portraying all these layers being peeled back and then ultimately, such a heartfelt job portraying the two young kids at the center of the film. It's one of those kinds of films I'll be thinking about years from now, much like the last film of his I saw ("Shoplifters"). I could talk about this film for hours.

Inu-Oh (2021) One of my favorite animation directors in recent years has been Masaaki Yuasa. As a director, his stories can be a bit out there, as seen in "Ride Your Wave," but that's part of the charm of his movies, in my opinion. "Inu-Oh" is no different in this regard. Though it's an adaptation of an epic tale written sometime during/before 13th century Japan, the movie does it in such a fascinating way of making it an animated musical film that combines classic folk Japanese music and modern rock music. The film also portrays this wonderfully in animation visuals, with contrast in traditional Japanese dance to the modernized dance-style that Inu-Oh executes. The film has stunning visuals and transitions. It's also a film that pays an ode to storytelling that reminds us of why we tell stories as we live, tragedies or not.

Cyrano de Bergerac (2019, National Live Theatre) Cyrano has been a fascinating story for me a long time, since my high school English teacher assigned us to read the play. As someone who's admired James McAvoy as an actor for a long time as well, I thought I'd check out this modern adaptation of Cyrano. What a fascinating take on the story. It's an adaptation that reminds you of why words can be so damn beautiful and attractive. This live theater performance adapts prose into more than just letters written. Words that used to be written and spoken as poetry becomes lyrics that individuals can say and rap to one another and I had such a fun time seeing how all these actors could wax lyrically well-written prose. James McAvoy does such a phenomenal job in his role as Cyrano.

Past Lives (2023) Considering it's nominated for one of the best pictures of the year, it's not really a surprise that this would be one of my favorites I saw this month. Still, this film really struck a chord with me personally as a protagonist stuck between the what-if of her past love & life and the present and future of her current life and lover. It's a subtle film, with no grandiose moments as some films are wont to have in Hollywood, but it's very pragmatic in its approach in such a beautiful way that I can't help but love it. I'm not without minor criticisms for the film, but I do think it's a film that perfectly encapsulates the longing and the love for what was and what could've been--and also the love that you have for the now.

Literature

Girls & Boys (Denis Kelly, performed by Carey Mulligan) I feel like I've always read about one-person plays and see it in monologues, but never quite seen/read one. To get this as my first one was a joy. It's an interesting read, because it starts out as a story of a woman recounting in a mundane manner facets of her life--such as how she met her husband, little moments with her two children, how her job went. It feels like a casual retelling of her life sprinkled in with memories she's recounting that are very clear-cut, like her discussions with her children. So the play continues with interesting discussions and experiences she has, until there's a key moment she tells you the truth about something that occurs in her life and the pieces of what she's been monologuing about draw it into a clearer reality and a sort of cruel one. Her specific monologues when she tells the audience the truth, a gentle reminder of what has happened to her has not happened to you (as the audience) and has already happened is quite telling of how those who have suffered tragedies live on. And the final monologue she has before the play ends on a memory she has with her children is haunting. Carey carries this play in such a graceful and haunting way that it's honestly made me want to check out many more of her films.

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson I think sometimes I just like characters like Pattern (Stormlight Archive). The fact that M-Bot in Skyward reminds me of that little spren at times just cracks me up. Skyward is not my favorite Sanderson novel, but I had such a fun time reading Spensa's adventure becoming a pilot and partnering with an AI that loves cataloguing mushrooms. Sanderson does such a wonderful job of writing characters that I can't help but be fond of.

Music

“Coming of Age,” Blondes This is the kind of song I would've listened to non-stop in my teenage years, because I just love the kind of sound you can only have with a band.

“2000 Miles”, Gatlin There's something about the words and the way she sings "And when the sun hit me, didn't mind you weren't with me, it kinda made me happy," that just hit me personally. I enjoyed discovering Gatlin's other songs as well (first time listening to her), but this one was my personal favorite.

“Tummy Hurts,” Renee Rapp I curiously decided to listen to Renee Rapp because I've been wanting to check out the new Mean Girls movie and was wondering how she sounded. She's genuinely a very good singer, both on record and live. I like quite a few of her songs, like the one she has with Megan Thee Stallion, but this one in particular is my favorite.

“J’ai perdu mon corps,” Dan Levy I saw a film I liked that honestly deserves to be listed in the films I mentioned above, but was just slightly less well-put-together in my personal opinion. The film is titled "J'ai perdu mon corps" or "I Lost My Body" and is a wonderfully animated film about a hand that was separated from its body. The soundtrack is phenomenal and I really liked the film's main score, as noted by this bullet point. Film is worth checking out, as is the score.

“See You,” Christopher Bear, Daniel Rosen Speaking of film scores, I'm rather surprised Past Lives was not also nominated for best soundtrack, because its soundtrack is fantastic. I loved this piece in particular, as it is the background track to the emotional moment at the end of the film.

#masterlist2024 #readings and ramblings