Sunday Evening By JoeLius DuBois Porter

From the National Geographic cover on IRAN, July 1999 (Volume 196, No. 1)

the next kiss i kiss will leave us feelin richer

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3QkOmsBpG1/?igshid=9q3ayy7jgtlq

“I belong to Oceania - or, at least, I am rooted in a fertile portion of it - and it nourishes my spirit, helps to define me, and feeds my imagination.”

— Albert Wendt, Towards a New Oceania (via beautyofoceania)

Palestine in Fertile Memory (Michel Khleifi, 1980)

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

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

“What’s difficult about being from Hawaii is that everyone has a postcard view of your home. Hawaii lives vividly in people’s minds as nothing more than a weeklong vacation – a space of escape, fantasy and paradise. But Hawaii is much more than a tropical destination or a pretty movie backdrop — just as Aloha is way more than a greeting. The ongoing appropriation and commercialization of all things Hawaiian only makes it clearer as to why it is inappropriate for those with no ties to Hawaii, its language, culture and people to invoke the Hawaiian language. This is uniquely true for aloha – a term that has been bastardized and diminished with its continual use. Most who invoke the term aloha do not know its true meaning. Aloha actually comes from two Hawaiian words: Alo – which means the front of a person, the part of our bodies that we share and take in people. And Ha, which is our breath. When we are in each other’s presence with the front of our bodies, we are exchanging the breath of life. That’s Aloha.”

— Janet Mock (via wattaabunkamamuti)

“If you will grant me one vivid morning, I can chain it to me for fifty years.”

— William Stafford, from Sound of the Ax: Aphorisms and Poems, eds. Vincent Wixon and Paul Merchant (University of Pittsburg Press, 2014)

always choose to be with someone who is emotionally intelligent. don’t get caught up in the fact that you are loved, because love comes easy. but loving someone in the way they need, and understanding why they need to be loved like that is what a relationship is about.

subtle intimacy is so soft!! knowing someone’s routine and slowly becoming a part of it. memorising favourite teas and soups and drink orders. good morning and good night texts and messy paragraphs of love written half asleep. nicknames only you know. just!!! small things that say “look how dear you are to me.”