"But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth.
Such a constellation was he to me."
— Madeline Miller, excerpt from Circe
lit ∙ greek mythology ∙ circe ∙ our queen of greek myth retellings has done it again ∙
"I run my tongue over the skeleton
jutting from my jaw. I taste
the grit of heartbreak."
— joy harjo, excerpt of ‘songs from the house of death, or how to make it through to the end of a relationship’
she who fights monsters must take care never to become one ∙ every story needs its pound of flesh ∙ lit ∙ poetry ∙
"Me, a rusted hammer. Me, a sweet & lovely
disaster. How much beautiful must I kill?"
— jeanann verlee, excerpt the riot kings (of apartment F9)
she who fights monsters must take care never to become one ∙ new and sharp with many teeth ∙ lit ∙ poetry ∙
"your mouth is a storehouse of surrogate
bones, you grow fruit trees and crocus
in the back of your throat.
give me
your moonshoulders, the stars all over
your body, and the keys. hand over
the map (…)
my love, my sphinx, my vanishing
point, I am not perfect. but
I was built for this."
— marty mcconnell, excerpt of the chariot in love
write me a love letter like this ∙ the romantics ∙ every story needs its pound of flesh ∙ lit ∙ poetry ∙
"…Longing, of course,
becomes its own object, the way
that desire can make anything into a god."
— Mark Doty, excerpt of The Death of Antinous
hadrian ∙ antinous ∙ poetry ∙ lit ∙ mark doty ∙ *** ∙ journal entry ∙
"For thousands of seconds we kiss; you hair
like treasure on the ground; the Midas light
turning your limbs to gold."
— carol ann duffy, excerpt of hour
quotes ∙ lit ∙ carol ann duffy ∙ poetry ∙ spilled ink ∙ prophets tag ∙ sapphic blessings ∙ mythology ∙ every story needs its pound of flesh ∙
"Men’s novels are about how to get power. Killing and so on, or winning and so on. So are women’s novels, though the method is different. In men’s novels, getting the woman or women goes along with getting the power. It’s a perk, not a means. In women’s novels you get the power by getting the man. The man is the power. But sex won’t do, he has to love you. What do you think all that kneeling’s about, down among the crinolines, on the Persian carpet? Or at least say it. When all else is lacking, verbalization can be enough. Love. There, you can stand up now, it didn’t kill you. Did it?"
— margaret atwood, from “women’s novels”, murder in the dark
lit ∙ margaret atwood ∙ quote ∙ prose ∙ social issues ∙ feminism ∙