“Accept How You Feel But Don’t Let Feelings Rule You. You Are In Control. You Are Not Their Slave.”

by gettymuseum

Julia de Burgos, tr. by Heather Rosario Sievert, from These Are Not Sweet Girls: Poetry by Latin American Women; "Transmutation"

[Text ID: "To love you / I have detached the world from my shoulders, / and have remained desert in sea and star, / simple / like the light."]

Portrait of María Hahn - Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta

resonate within an elegance; spread far beyond & forever thinner.

I know I'm turning ugly

A turpentine tree trunk

Twisted as the shadows

Lengthen and silhouettes

Soften, someone show me

How to make anything but

A fist— I bruise, I burn, I

Hold on to everything

That wants to let me go

I am growing stunted with

The skillet slant of the sun

Playing hide-and-seek

I have lost or I am losing

And the ink in my veins

Falls in splotches insensible

In this eternal, internal rain

I have a mouth made for

Despair, I have learned to

Chew the air before my

Weary lungs can swallow

Aleksey Tolstoy, from “It chanced”; A Book of Russian Verse (ed. by Cecil Bowra)

Strained and wanting

I simmer below the surface,

a thousand pieces of light

stretched thin and glaring

piece together my skin,

thoughts rumbling through

troubled waters, fine lines

and wasted moments,

preoccupied with nothing

💫 ANNOUNCEMENT: my first book is here! 💫

you can buy 𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘬𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘺 through the link below if you're interested (and if you do like it, please consider leaving a review if you've the time).

it has been a dream of mine for so long and now it's a reality (though it does still feel a bit surreal, even as i hold it in my hands). with the help of my talented illustrator—my brother—i am finally able to share it with you all!

this book is essentially my heart and soul and i do hope you find a place for it in yours. thank you for all of your support; your sweet words and appreciation for my poetry has made this journey even more worthwhile.

available formats are paperback and kindle on Amazon. i hope you enjoy! 🥰💫

I read to escape but then I always get trapped in a world that closely resembles mine