Olena Kalytiak Davis, Shattered Sonnets, Love Cards, And Other Off And Back Handed Importunities

“The most haunting time at which to see them is at the turn of the moon, when they utter strange wailing cries; but the lagoon is dangerous for mortals then…”

“the mermaids” - marianne boruch // “hylas and the nymphs” - john william waterhouse // “the love song of j. alfred prufrock” - t.s. eliot // “a mermaid” - john william waterhouse // “the siren” john william waterhouse // moby-dick - herman melville // “the knight and the mermaid” - isobel lilian gloag // “the land baby” - john collier // “lamia” - john keats // of “hylas and the water nymphs” - henrietta rae // peter pan // j.m. barrie

Gillian Flynn, from Sharp Objects

“How do we forgive our fathers? Maybe in a dream. Do we forgive our fathers for leaving us too often, or forever, when we were little? Maybe for scaring us with unexpected rage, or making us nervous because there never seemed to be any rage there at all? Do we forgive our fathers for marrying, or not marrying, our mothers? Or divorcing, or not divorcing, our mothers? And shall we forgive them for their excesses of warmth or coldness? Shall we forgive them for pushing, or leaning? For shutting doors or speaking through walls? For never speaking, or never being silent? Do we forgive our fathers in our age, or in theirs? Or in their deaths, saying it to them or not saying it. If we forgive our fathers, what is left?”

— Thomas Builds-the-Fire, Smoke Signals (Sherman Alexie)

and the grocery store is never just the grocery store. i'm staring at cereal boxes trying to find one that'll stain my heart honey-sweet again. i'm pacing the snack aisle looking for an epiphany or addiction. i'm circling the croissants like they'll make my life beautiful. i'm looking at birthday cards wondering who i have left to congratulate. i'm clutching my sleeves in the produce section. as if this particular lettuce will cleanse away years of inner turmoil. i'm cradling wilted bouquets like precious cargo--have i ever been held this tender, this secure? i'm hovering before the self-checkout and cashier line, wondering if it'd be nice to go through something with someone else for once.

— mimi evangeline, from girlhood is godhood

Woman King

King, Florence + the Machine //  Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses (1891), John William Waterhouse // Woman King, Iron & Wine // Macbeth, William Shakespeare // Medusa with the Head of Perseus (2008), Luciano Garbati // Show Your Fangs, The Crane Wives // Gold Dust Woman, Fleetwood Mac // La Belle Dame sans Merci (1901), Frank Bernard Dicksee // Brutus, The Buttress 

oh how the horror of existence eats away at my heart but look how i cling on to the simplest acts of compassion, kind gestures, easy natural connections. bitter as i am i can't help looking at the world as if it's handmade just for me. i love loving, i love loving people. i love a soft love. no drama. no loudness. no doors being slammed. a silent love. steeped into the heart like a strong tea. jasmine scented. a love nurtured and moulded delicately with sturdy hands on a potter's wheel. a love made with love. a love to live for. a love that makes you want to stay alive, for tiny birds and the sky, for the ocean and the charcoal night. dying is no feat, we die all the time. if you are a lover, you must do the unthinkable, you must live. for you will be remembered and you will be immortalized in every bit of beauty that ever graces this earth.

On Friendship, Falling in Love and Falling Apart, pt. 2 (pt. 1, pt. 3, pt. 4)

Ode to Friendship, Noor Hindi

The Truth Has Three Sides, Sabrina Benaim

I've Got a Dark Alley and a Bad Idea That Says You Should Shut Your Mouth (Summer Song), Fall Out Boy

Autumn, Patty Dickson Pieczka

Unknown

Unknown

Nature Poem, Chen Chen

Planet of Love, Richard Siken

Ever Yours: The Essential Letters, Vincent Van Gogh

Just Like Heaven, The Cure

Speeches for Dr. Frankenstein, Margaret Atwood

The Dialogue of Desire and Guilt, J.D. McClatchy

Someplace Like Montana, Ada Limón

Cold Solace, Anna Belle Kaufman

Fleabag (2016-2019)

Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out, Richard Siken

Your Love Finds Its Way Back, Sierra DeMulder

The Diaries of Katherine Mansfield

Moments, Mary Oliver

finally making a part three of video essays ive enjoyed in the part few months! one, two.

movies + tv

in search of the distinctively human | the philosophy of blade runner 2049

the tragic beauty of blade runner 2049 explored

sia's music: the trap of symbolic autistic representation

remembering with a twist | a jojo rabbit & the book thief video essay

the stormtrooper paradox

the case against the jedi order

finn: the winter soldier of star wars

finn the lost protagonist

y'all still mad about cuties?

the fetishization of disney princesses of color // mulan revisited

the day rue "became" black

the confused politics of promising young woman

indiana jones – a primer on racist film tropes

exploring the blair witch mythology

what the hell is trolland? (the ugliest animated movie ever)

inspiration p*rn: oscar bait!

color grading and modern cinema – an essay on ugly movies

why terfs misunderstand the handmaid's tale

the tyra show, ego masquerading as empathy

hbo's euphoria is not "real" it's creepy

teen wolf, in retrospect

the secret life is the worst teen drama of all time

dinosaurs, the sitcom before time

the wasted potential of scream queens

fake anime in western media

the impact of dragon ball z: the series that changed everything

music

the dark side of one direction

the rise and fall of the 2000s video vixen

the misunderstood mind of left eye

mariah carey: the magnificence of 'butterfly'

the rise and fall of syco music

banned before debut? the controversial debut of honey popcorn

teen girls, boy bands and objectification, a video essay

video games

rationalizing brutality: the cultural legacy of the headshot

the girl games of lost media (part 1) (part 2)

a deep dive into animal crossing

books

'the secret' and its cult following

gabbie hanna vs rachel oates | authors, stop responding to negative book reviews!

a deep dive into the warrior cats fandom

the mortal instruments is... fine

internet

the man that lost everything for internet fame: dan bilzerian

tumblr's fakest story: the tale of oppa homeless style

msscribe: the harry potter fandom's greatest con-artist (trust me on this one. i wouldn't add this if it wasn't worth it)

family vloggers: something needs to change

we need to talk about true crime youtubers 🤨 | the ethics of monetizing tragedy

the tumblr iceberg (explained)

internet history: dramageddon 1

creepshow art | the lies, manipulation & slander that ruined a community

the weird phenomenon of youtube redemption arcs...

misc

grooming aaron taylor-johnson

why koko couldn't talk (sorry)

the problem with true crime

what we don't talk about in the jeffrey dahmer case: flipping the script

the "rampant transphobia" of bisexual history

a deep dive into littlest pet shop

tiktok is kinda bad for fashion

lifestyles of the rich and famous | wealth p*rn and you

the y2k aesthetic explained

god is weird: a close look at adam and eve

how hollywood damaged the olsen twins

the mouse utopia experiments

anti-maskers

tinky winky vs the religious right

the strange world of breatharianism

doomsday preppers | neoliberalism, f@scism and the apocalypse

let's look at the gruesome world of victorian medicine

make sure you add some neoliberalism when you talk about capitalism | i don't dream about labor

being a woman is thinking ur the ugliest person ever and then coming across a photo of u as a kid when u had already started to hate ur appearance and realizing u were so cute and then u do this every so often for the rest of ur life and u never learn