#singing about the dark times

[april-is]

April 28, 2023: To Be Alive, Gregory Orr

To Be Alive Gregory Orr

To be alive: not just the carcass but the spark. That’s crudely put, but. . . If we’re not supposed to dance, why all this music?

--

Today in: 

2022: A Metaphor, J. Estanislao Lopez 2021: Ode to the Unbroken World, Which Is Coming, Thomas Lux 2020: What Kind of Times Are These, Adrienne Rich 2019: Conversation with Phillis Wheatley #2, Tiana Clark 2018: Love Poem, Denise Levertov 2017: Young Wife’s Lament, Brigit Pegeen Kelly 2016: For the Confederate Dead, Kevin Young 2015: Awaking in New York, Maya Angelou 2014: when you have forgotten Sunday: the love story, Gwendolyn Brooks 2013: Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey, Hayden Carruth 2012: My Place, Franz Wright 2011: from The Wild Geese, Wendell Berry 2010: Love After Love, Derek Walcott 2009: To This May, W.S. Merwin 2008: Father, Ted Kooser 2007: from Little Sleep’s-Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight, Galway Kinnell 2006: Crusoe in England, Elizabeth Bishop 2005: Dream Song 1, John Berryman

#short poems #feast on your life #gregory orr #singing about the dark times

[lavideenrose]

Damn Some Days

Damn some days the feelings of loneliness are enough I consider going back then I remember the feeling won't be solved that way I wonder what if we tried therapy again? I feel myself to be an open wound A scream The question in my mind isn't Is that I all I am? But rather Can I let myself be that for a while? But everything else would stop And I really would become the scream Mouth open wide Teeth, red flesh Wet and opening Something streaming out The gaping hole at the centre The ragged Vibrating All-consuming Scream

#scream #poem #poetry #i can't be only a scream #there must be some singing #unhappiness says #louis aragon #mine #personal #depression #anxiety #singing about the dark times #bertolt brecht

[humunanunga]

How you turned my world, you precious thing...

#yugioh #yugioh duel monsters #mutou yugi #this idea got better after reading what takahashi wanted for memory world if it weren't for his health and energy at the time #apparently the pharaoh was supposed to be running around independently of dark yugi #(probably showcasing what he was like as a ruler vs how he'd grown since waking up a dangerously protective ghost) #(and how his moral competence also grew since then) #and there was gonna be a showdown between them leading up to the showdown against akhnadin and priest set #anyway i remembered that and now i'm thinking about pharaoh atemu singing the lyrics while yugi looks for puzzle atemu #fanart #within you #hall of fame

[swordheld]

hi! your blog is one of my favourites and i absolutely adore reading your thoughts. my grandfather recently passed away and it feels like i lost myself with him. how do i continue living after this? there is this constant weight on my chest and it feels like an emptiness has made a home inside of me. how do i go on when it feels like the world crashed on my shoulders?

hello, love! this is so very sweet and kind of you, and i hope you're treating yourself gently and kindly right now - there aren't words for a loss like this. that heaviness is difficult, and hard, and painful. it's okay if things don't feel okay, right now, or even soon - i think that's something that a lot of the people i know that have gone through similar grief feel: like they should be able to get back to a relative 'normal' in a [insert far too short period of time].

but it's okay if it hurts. that's where i'd like to start. you're allowed to feel that emptiness, that world-crashed feeling that goes beyond words, beyond time. don't feel like you have to rush this to feel some sort of better. things get easier with time, i promise you this, but sometimes painful feelings are important to feel, too. cry, scream, feel your emotions. they're a part of you. grieve.

it's perhaps a little silly, but when i think about death i always think about a couple of space songs: mainly drops of jupiter by train and saturn by sleeping at last. there are perhaps others that speak to the emotions better, but these two have always hit something a little deeper for me, and are popular for a wide-reaching reason.

and while personally i don't know much about grief like this, i do know a lot about love; and i think they're a lot of the same thing.

the people we love are a part of us, and this is why it takes from us so deeply when we lose them, because it does feel like we've lost a part of ourselves in the wake of it. but it's because they were so central to our experiences of living - our lives, that the separation introduces a hollowness - a place where they used to be. a home that now goes unlived in.

an emptiness, like you said.

but just because they're not here physically, doesn't mean he's not still there, in your heart, in your life, your memory. you can hold him close in smaller ways, as well: steal a sweater, or cologne/scent for something a little more physical and long lasting for remembering. hold onto the memories you cherish, the things that made you laugh, the ease of slow mornings and gentle nights. write them all down, slide a few photographs in there, go through it and add more when you miss him. keep them all close, keep them in your heart.

you're not alone, in this. he's still there, with you, it's just - in the little things.

he's with you in the way you see and go about your daily life, in doing what he liked to do, in the ways he interacted with the world that you shared with him. the memories you recall fondly when the night is late or the moment is right and something calls it into you like a melody, an old bell, laughter you'd recognize anywhere.

but i think, perhaps most importantly above all others - talk about him. with your family, your friends, his friends, strangers; stories are how we keep the people we love alive. the connections they've made, the legacies and experiences they've left behind, and so, so many stories.

how lucky, we are - to love so much it takes a piece of us when they go. grief is the other side of the coin, but it does not mean our love goes away. it lives in you. it lives in everyone who knew him, in the smallest pieces of our lives.

the people we love never really leave us, like this: they're in how we cook and the way we fold our newspapers, our laundry, in the radio stations we tune in to and the way we decorate our walls, our photo albums. they're in the way we store our mail, organize our closets, the scribbled notes in the indexes of our books. the meals we love and the drinks we mix, the way we spend time with one another. they've been passed down for generations, for longer than history - and we are all the luckier for it.

think about what you shared with him, and do it intentionally. bring him into your life, like this, again. whether it's crosswords or poetry or sports or anything else. if one doesn't help, try another. something might click.

i hope things feel a little easier for you, as they tend to do only with time. i hope you find joy in your grief, even if it is small and hard to grasp at first. know that your hurt stems from so much love that there isn't a place to put it properly, and that it is something so meaningful and hurting poets and storytellers have been struggling to put it into words and sounds that feel like the fit right for eons, and that it is also just simply yours. sometimes things don't have to make sense. sometimes they just are - unable to be put into words or neat little sentiments, as unfair and tragic as they come.

but i promise it will not feel like this forever. your love is real. and perhaps, on where to begin on from here - i think it's less on finding where to begin and just beginning. and you've already started. you've taken the most important and crucial step: the first one. wherever you go, after that, from here? you'll figure it out. you always have, and you always do. it'll come, as things always do. love leads us, as does light - and you're never alone in your hurt. in your grief, your missing something dear to you. i think if you talk about it with others, you'll find they have ways of helping you cope as well - and they have so much love of their own to spare, too.

as an aside, here is the song (northern star by dom fera) i was listening to when i wrote this, for no other reason more than it makes me think of connections, and love, and how we hold onto the people we love and how they change us, wonderfully and intrinsically. it's a little more joyous than the others i've mentioned, and plays like a story, and it made me think of what is at the core of this, love and stories and i am here with you, and maybe it'll bring you some joy, if you'd like it. wishing you all my love and ease 💛

#q&a. #birdsong. #wishing u gentle ease; the death of a loved one is near inexplicable to put into words and i hope you take care of yourself gently <3 #i hope this will make u laugh: when i was a tiny child in middle school there were times i would go outside in my tiny suburban cul de sac- #in the rain and sing along to my lil ipod nano and i only remember doing this to drops of jupiter. can you imagine going out to get the mai #after a long day of work and you just hear this kid singing train in the streets. in the RAIN.... it makes me laugh like i really. #i really thought i was so cool and deep and emotional ghjkd but i find it v funny that i only remember it w/ that one train track. #and saturn just. it's my fav s.a.l. song for a reason. that slow violin opening? the piano coming in gentle and easy? #it feels like light. like hope. like something new - a dawn after the long dark. that beautiful things can begin again even where #it hurts. and there is nothing more human than a sentiment like that. #how rare and beautiful it is to truly exist. what it is to be alive and get to be here and live with other people. with those we love. #i think your grandfather was so lucky to be able to know you. to have you in his life for the time you had together. #i'm no spiritual person; but i like to believe when you're thinking about him? he's thinking about you too. #the second law of thermodynamics (physics nerd mode) is that no energy has ever been created/destroyed since the beginning of the universe. #so it has to go somewhere - it's that carl sagan quote of 'we're all made of stardust'. because we are. we used to be stars; planets; etc. #i think it's why i think of these space songs - because they're a part of everything; once more; when they go. us and everything else.

[mintjeru]

if i don't hear myla's singing voice again by the end of this game istg i'm gonna have A Talk with team cherry (no spoilers please, i'm playing hollow knight blind!!)

open for better quality | no reposts

#hollow knight #fanart #myart #comic #i noticed smth was wrong when i was exploring for map completion and the preacher/audience bugs near greenpath were infected #and then i went to crossroads. weird orange haze from the well. it was infected. #so after making sure everyone in dirtmouth was ok i made a mad dash to myla bc last i checked she was singing about darkness #i genuinely cannot even begin to explain how distressed i was when she raised her weapon against me #the last time i was this distressed about a video game was like. probably the t.surumi island quest #you simply had to be in call w/ me bc i was literally wailing over myla #i didn't kill her. i'm still holding onto hope that when i unlock the seal and we fix whatever's going on that she will be cured #we aren't giving up until this game is over

[chirpsythismorning]

I See the Light (Mike’s Version)

#byler #stranger things #mike wheeler #will byers #st4 dna board #visual parallel being the shot of ryder to the right while staring longingly at rapunzel as she talks looking off into the distance #then we have the very technical artificial lighting which is what I think drives this parallel home for me #in this scene in rapaunzel they’re singing about being in the dark for a long time and NOW ‘seeing the light’ #and so the choice to illuminate will with light in 87% of the shots from mike’s pov here… is quite the choice #you’ll notice mike is not lighten up at all to this extent from will’s pov #this is bc mike is not will’s light! he is his heart (duh he just gave a whole speech about it) #for mike tho. will is his light!! #and so the implications that come with this song and the lyrics you just heard from ryder’s pov specifically #the character mike is being paralleled to here #are quite staggering #bc this choice could have the potential to add even more layers to what we are seeing here #this scene started with mike looking pretty depressed and hopeless as he has been looking for most of the season #this scene then ends with mike looking mesmerized. in awe and maybe the happiest we’ve ever seen him after hearing will’s words #and so what does this all mean? #was mike in the dark but now he’s starting to see the light? #at the end when the light is shining on will in the cabin and mike ends the scene resting his hand on will’s shoulder #is that to signify that mike is now in the process of stepping into the light with him? #the duffers saying in their emmy consideration that the show will end with the characters coming out of the darkness and into the light… #was that just a coincidence? #not at all related whatsoever to the culmination of two main characters taking 5 seasons to confront their feelings for each other? #after a season that made a point of focusing on their dynamic with light… #or is it really just that simple bc tangled is written and crossed off the st4 dna board? #like this is literally just one of several scenes that connects byler to romantic pairings from movies on the st4 dna board #basically #byler endgame

[firstroseofspring]

memory, death and life as komerex zha, the perpetual game; klingon culture as depicted in the final reflection, by john m. ford

#star trek #web weaving #klingons #im normal about this. i swear. #please read the final reflection. 99 cents on kindle right now. i read it in one sitting very fun very entertaining very insightful #and spocks in it. if you even care #is that last quote not soo sarek coded. 'im gonna destroy you in this game son. every time until you learn not to lose so badly #but you will still lose. <3' #house gensa forever house rustazh foreverrr #klingonaase my darling i love you you're sooo latin coded #i really liked the singing and the idea of like gestures vaguely house gensa being three hundred kids with no formal houses or lines #to belong to. <- and so you will all be together. yayy new family! #i also liked the acknowledgment of like. other cultures existing on klinzhai (qo'nos) vulcans and orions living with klingons and such #this book really had it all im not done posting. theres more songs and looks at their food; daily life; clothing and how they decorate #houses. more examples of klingonaase lol of course cuss words and such. they also talk about battle language which if i'm not mistaken is #like clipped tlhIngan? #but they call it battle language and translate it for the reader. fun! #and of course the klingons end up on earth so theres insights on how they feel about coffee and human food. apparently the air on earth is #very thin and dry to them; every scene where they talk about klingon comfort standards they mention making it dark and humid and hot. #red lights and such! for inside #and they say the thin air on earth makes it hard to hear for klingons! i thought that was very cool #nobody: #me: they like salt water baths and dark ale and they wear silk and they eat pastries with butter. if you even care. #they mention human chair designs being uncomfortable for klingon anatomy too; there was a description i remember of house khemara #having cushions on the ground around a fireplace instead of chairs #its such a pretty description too; they have high ceilings and wooden beams along the roof and and sky lights for an indoor garden #iron railings for the staircases. mwah i love this book i really recommend it #theres something (gestures) here that reminds me very strongly of worf but i cant put my finger on it to be honest with you. not even like #the komerex zha specifically either like the vibes of the whole book.....

[originalaccountname]

they can't hit me with with Reason Living in the middle of Oda and Gide's fight 😭

#i haven't actually rewatched the anime dark era in a very long time because i usually skip it because it makes me sad #i also need to go back to listen to the song that plays when dazai begs oda to reconsider because i recognized the singer from dear prince #but it's not that song and i need to know what she sings about #bsdrewatch2023 #apparently i talk sometimes

[ghost-in-the-corner]

when I get wifi back on my laptop it's over for you bitches

#girl i feel so bad about my surprise ao3 hiatus #like i want to write and i have free time again #but no wifi #god it's annoying #ao3 #fanfic #fanfic writing #ao3 fanfic #writing #this boy's too young to be singing the blues #spiderman #daredevil #living on a high wire #dc #birdflash #young justice #darkness gnawing on the dawn #john constantine #dick grayson #hellwing #corner conversations

[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

[rustbeltjessie]

Literature isn't a thing you do for yourself, but you also don't not do it for yourself. Your soul needs saving, too. Writing is not even a thing you do for revolution, though you don't not do it for revolution, too, and just as you sometimes have to write "I saw, I felt" you also have to write "we felt, we did," too, and "they did, they said," also,  even when the we is a shaky and nascent and sometimes wavering collectivity and the they is the one that constitutes an enemy that you would rather not discuss.  

They the state, They the oil companies, They the institutions by which the present arrangement reproduces itself -- these are not the Theys I prefer, not like They the lavender asters in September, or They the clouds, or They the bats who adorn the attic. To leave any of it out: the clouds or the state or the bats or the institutions would, however, be a lie. To write only of an I without a We just because the We we have is not yet sufficient would be a lie, too, because the I of the moment is even shakier than a We -- if the We is a dance party with the ghost of a memory of a promise in it, the I is a daybed with the same.  

—Anne Boyer, from “notes on poetry: there will be singing” (September 24, 2020)

#quotations #anne boyer #on writing #literature #politics #us vs them #there will be singing about the dark times

[theswedishpajas]

Fuck it, have me at my worst 😔✌️

#snapchat #fakeme #astarion #me #my face #music #singing #cover #ukulele #REALLY low quality cus of how it’s recorded #phone recording #video #this lil bitch is leaned against my laptop screen and it’s also mirrored #not that I think anyone’s gonna nitpick me about what side I draw my piercings and tats on #but you know #in case someone looks at this and sees inconsistencies - that’s why #also!! featuring a look at my babie boy Charlie!!! (my ukulele) #I recorded this a few hours ago without my lamp on and with the darkness of swedish winters outside #didn’t expect this to be how I put my actual face on here for real the first time but I guess we’re here now #still gonna block myself out if I can cus I really don’t wanna get on my own bad side about it #I’ll start becoming a perfectionist about my hair and stuff even more than usual #haven’t really had many social in-person plans this week so I look like a mess rn but I swear- #- I would tear myself apart if I start showing my face here more lmao #oH AND I SHOULD PROLLY TAG- #bg3 #down by the river #but like just the stuff before the bridge cus the link I used for the chords forgot the first 2 lines of the bridge??? #and I don’t have the energy to figure them out myself rn lmao

[mariatesstruther]

okay so thinking about the greys episode where most of the staff accidentally eats edible cookies and this happening in the greys x tlou au world lmfao. imagine the residents (ellie, dina, jesse) trying to take care of their high as fuck attendings (maria, tess, joel, tommy, bill) after a parent gives them to tommy and he leaves them in their lounge

@bumblepony @clickergossip @theliterallylee @ameerawrites

#maria: (frantically tearing up her office) #ellie: ????? what are you looking for??? #maria: MY GLASSES #ellie: … (takes them off her forehead) here #maria: OH THANK YOUUUU #later on #dina: okay everyone calm down the cooking aren’t poisonous they just have weed in them #tommy: MISSY YOU SCARED ME HALF TO DEATH #dina: you knew they had weed in them??? #tess and maria would end up in a dark room somewhere playing with one of those fancy screens that shows you the anatomy of the whole body #or talking abt cheese like that scene with maggie and arizona #or doing that nose humming/singing thing like whatever the fuck april and bailey were doing lmfao #joel would be half asleep #by the time jesse’s found him hes bought four bags of chips from the vending machine #ellie trying to get him to lay down: its okay dude ill cover your cases. go to sleep #joel: i love youuuuuu #bill is about to start a surgery and dina has to be like hey man maybe dont #greys au #tlou au #tlou #the tipsy bison

[sysig]

It’s all worth it to be close ♥ (Patreon)

#Doodles #Original #The Mouse and the Mermaid #Just some sketchy sketches this time ♪ Leftover doodles from a scratch page #If you remember the set of Pop singing that one cheesy love song :3c #But there's a specific line in the song that refers to the sing-ee as ''my pet'' y'know like a pet name - dearest/darling/my love etc. #Pop would get so flustered about it and feel bad haha poor lad #Soda had a history of being a poorly-cared for pet fish before Pop sprang her ♥ She'd feel bad about potentially reminding her! #Soda wouldn't actually mind tho lol she's quite easy-breezy #Couple more Pops :D She's just so cute! #I really enjoy the featureless orb hands of like Miis and Animal Crossing humans haha #It's just such a cute and simple way of drawing them ♪ #Big eyes are fun as well hehe - they have opposite eye styles! Pop's big dark eyes and Soda's blank eyes ♪ #Silly S-shaped idea of the two of them holding hands in their respective elements :) #They both have tails even! They can be all fun and silly and sweep-curly #And finally sleeping on each other because I Must Keep My Quota Up #Unfortunately for Pop her girlfriend is exothermic lol - feels great from Soda's perspective! Not so much for the mammal of the duo #I'm sure she'd feel great in summer but then it'd just be the opposite situation! #Unless they snuggled in a pool or something haha #Cove filled with bubbles and baubles hehehe

[magdaclaire]

my parents being fucking weird has ruined so many of the activities queers typically salivate over

#my mom and dad used to go axe throwing with my aunt and uncle once a week #my uncle built a forge out of cinder blocks in my backyard and we moved it with us after for like ten years #my dad forged for a long time #even like. making and serving alcohol or some shit. my dad is an alcoholic who used to make his own mead #cottagecore ass lesbians?? my mom was an apothecary and my dad has always had a garden #dark academia ass gay people? my parents get into ethical debates to pass the time when they're in line in stores #art or singing or dancing? my mom was a theatre major her first time through college. we do that here #my mom used to customize jeans for her friends free of charge bc she could just draw on them to stim during long conversations #my siblings and i split up roles in musicals before we start them bc of my mom #dancing is about my grandparents but anyway they were competitive line dancers and that's not the only dance they did #everybody in my family has adhd and/or autism and there are no safe interests in this house #and my siblings would probably say the same thing about shit that i've hyperfixated on in the past that they cannot look at bc i #talked about it too much. i know enough about literature to make any normal person fall asleep. i have a borderline encyclopedic knowledge #of big cats. i literally read a series of encyclopedias as a child because i wanted to have a base knowledge of most things #how was i not diagnosed !!!!!! how did no one diagnose me !!!!!!! #and it's bc everybody in my family thought it was normal for me to read at a collegiate level in first grade. please be so for real rn #this turned into talking about my family's autism but isn't that what it was always about lmao #mer rambles

[scarefox]

Aural Vampire - cannibal coast-

#aural vampire #I posted about them a few times before but i love this song #saw them live only once #now she's a mommy #but they recently started doing live streams again where they chat with fans and ocassionally sing #and they made a new little album :> #gothic #ebm #dark wave #Youtube