I-D

polynesians: have oral history that references a faraway land of andes-like mountains in the east, cultivated sweet potato (a plant native to central america, not the pacific), literally call sweet potato by the same word used by the quechua and aymara people indigenous to the andes, left physical remains on islands a few km off the coast of chile, have genetic links with native south americans

white academics: hmmm it's very doubtful polynesians contacted south america.. they probably just stopped permanently at easter island for some reason after systematically navigating the entire south pacific. the sweet potatos floated to them across the ocean

She fitted in my arms, she always had, and the shock of holding her caused me to feel that my arms had been empty since she had been away.

– James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room

“To forget how you tasted those leggy afternoons when our bodies spilled like wine across the floor, is to admit a hawk into the house. Is to wring a rag of water. When I’m in the thicket with my smaller hungers, I don’t need to know every cave and what it stores, cool and damp, for you. I don’t need to know how many nests are lined with your hair. There’s nothing tame about twilight, this old song shaking the sweetgum leaves— when I thirst I dream like a violin waiting the bow.”

— Amie Whittemore, from “Nocturne,” Birmingham Poetry Review (no. 49, Spring 2022)

Lori Gottlieb, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed

I’ll stay in Today by Chukwu Adaeze

Moss PNGs.

(1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.)

Zapotec Bride from Juchitán de Zaragoza - Pieter Hugo

my mom was murdered last week leaving me without permanent housing, work, and my personal items. please boost this fund to support me in completing her end of life services:

gofundme.com

In loving memory of Khalilah S. Elam, organized by Akeila Elam

Khalilah Elam was murdered in her home on September 2nd, 2022. She left behind a nex… Akeila Elam needs your support for In loving memory o

“No wonder I am mesmerized by your tongues’ small fires glowing with desire.”

— M.J. Iuppa, from “Marigolds,” Amethyst Review (2022)

“I whet my lips to speak your name. To kiss your hands, curling into the posture of prayer, they could almost have been carved from stone. I swear: If idolatry was my only sin, then it’s because god wasn’t watching.”

— Torrin A. Greathouse, from “Ekphrasis on Nude Selfie as Portrait of San Sebastian,” Poetry (vol. 221, no. 2, November 2022)