✍️
Even if the poem sucks
Even if it’s nonsense
Even if you don’t know what it means yet
Just start writing and see what happens
You might learn something about yourself or the world
Here’s today’s poem, I spent maybe 10 minutes on it:
Give me your demons
I will carry them away
Give me your hate
I will extinguish the flame
Give me every tear
I will feed them to the earth
And tend to your garden.
Jan 31, 2025
Related Recs
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it’s great when I’m able to romanticize my daily life when things seem mundane. to be able to be grateful for what I have rather than focusing on what I don’t. that’s not to say that I think you shouldn’t question your situation and to be complicit, but sometimes for the time being you don’t have a choice. so it’s better to look on the bright side of things. I’ve heard the quote that the grass is greener where you water it and I believe that to be true to an extent. I’m also reminded of a poem that’s stuck with me for a while. it’s title is Aimless Love by Billy Collins and it goes like this:
This morning as I walked along the lake shore,
I fell in love with a wren
and later on in the day, a mouse
the cat had dropped under the dining room table.
In the shadows of an autumn evening,
I fell for a seamstress
still at her machine in the tailor’s window,
and later for a bowl of broth,
steam rising like smoke from a naval battle.
This is the best kind of love, I thought,
without recompense, without gifts,
or unkind words, without suspicion,
or silence on the telephone.
The love of the chestnut,
the jazz cap and one hand on the wheel.
No lust, no slam of the door—
the love of the miniature orange tree,
the clean white shirt, the hot evening shower,
the highway that cuts across Florida.
No waiting, no huffiness, or rancor—
just a twinge every now and then
for the wren who had built her nest on a low branch overhanging the water
and for the dead mouse,
still dressed in its light brown suit.
But my heart is always standing on its tripod,
ready for the next arrow.
After I carried the mouse by its tail to a pile of leaves in the woods,
I found myself standing at the bathroom sink gazing down affectionately at the soap,
so patient and soluble,
so at home in its pale green soap dish.
I could feel myself falling again as I felt its turning in my wet hands and caught the scent of the lavender and stone.
May 17, 2025
⭐
you know,
all i like to write about is love.
writing is easier when it’s about your own personal experiences of grief, of pain
but love is the beautiful dove of the two
released at a funeral, released at a wedding.
,
because the definition is different for everybody.
—
the trees rustle again tonight, and the wind gently taps on the windowpane, begging again to be let in
and my thoughts race farther and faster in the night than a pure-bred, hot-blooded racehorse, bucking wild for the first time
my mind buzzes, stricken like a gong, reverberating in the quietness of tonight
as i drag myself closer to you,
you reach out for me, an unspoken, gentle and devout prayer, asking for me in the unspeakable words conveyed in a whisper through actions
–
i promised you a fantastical world of your own, where you are safe, through my own creation.
i have created for you in the heart of my own somewhere for me to love you,
fully and infinitely with all of myself.
if this is not where you are safe, then there is nothing else.
–
word by word and sentence by sentence
i create dreams i would never tell anybody
not even under the skies of a cloudless night.
when i sleep, i tuck my hopes and sadness under my pillow
and hope a fairy will kidnap it and place in that spot
something i should need more.
but night after night, my dreams just macerate in the container of my heart.
soon, i will drink them like an elixir of truth
and what i am afraid of will come
May 2, 2025
⛵
from omeros, by derek walcott:
“Measure the days you have left. Do just that labour
which marries your heart to your right hand: simplify
your life to one emblem, a sail leaving harbour
and a sail coming in.”
advice to a young, wandering poet given by the phantom of his father. words to live by, to repeat to oneself every once in a while!
Jan 29, 2024
Top Recs from @regularcucumber
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Log off Amazon prime and step into the real world. Go to a local physical store in your community. Look your neighbor in the eye and put money in their hand.
Go to a local venue and hear what musicians in your community are creating. Talk to them about it afterwards. Buy a T-shirt or cd or whatever they’re selling, they’ll make more money from that than from thousands of streams. Seriously, Spotify pays a fraction of a penny per stream.
Forget about Starbucks. Check out a local coffee shop instead. Learn your barista’s name and tip them.
Go to your local book store and library. Look around and see what book covers catch your eye. Ask employees for recommendations instead of just reading whatever’s trending on #booktok.
Go to your local museums, farmers market, theaters, restaurants, whatever your community has going on.
When you go local, you see your community in a new way. You make friends and feel more connected to the people around you.
You will discover new things organically instead of relying on an algorithm. You keep your money circulating in your community instead of making billionaires richer. You will have a greater appreciation for where you live.
P.S. Pay In Cash
Jan 29, 2025
Everything I do now, I do for you.
Apr 3, 2025