This world is filled with receivers
If the world ever decides to give you
Then give it back a little more
And if the world ever gives you less
Then never stop giving it back
Because the world has less of givers
The calm sighs that escape when no one is looking. The whispered prayers in crowded jams. The way you press your palms to your chest, steadying breath when the world feels too heavy. I honour the surrendering it takes to say, "I'm fine.” When you're anything but, and the courage it takes to cry-I do not know all the stories we women carry. But I know they run deep. I honour every one of them.
Aidi Basi
“In the second chamber of my fourth heart down to the left of the third valve is the room I keep for you for me to think of you.”
— Lisa Olstein, from “Cold Satellite” in Little Stranger (via pigmenting)
just want to thank every single one of you for being here. thank you for existing, for never giving up, for trying your best every day even when some days "our best" isn't much. you have more strength than you realize. everything you thought could destroy you until now, never did. you overcame every obstacle. every feeling of hopelessness. every time you thought the pain wouldn't end, it did. so, thank you for being here. you matter. thank you.
On Names and Love
Tennessee Williams, ‘The Vine’ from Selected Stories // Jodi Picoult, Handle with Care // Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People // Stephen Sondheim, ‘Maria’ from West Side Story // Naomi Shihab Nye // Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea // Shilpa Goel // Aidan Chambers, Nik: Now I Know
— WISŁAWA SZYMBORSKA, translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh & Stanisław Barańczak.
can someone please be proud of me like fuck I’m trying
Dorianne Laux, “I Dare You”
stop glamorizing “the Grind” and start glamorizing whatever this is
tu koi aur hai, janta hai tu
samne iss jahaan ke ek naqab hai.
tu aur hai, koi aur hai.
kyun nhiiii
vo jo hai?
tu jahaan ke vaste
khud ko bhul kar
apne hi sath naa
aise zulm kar.
khol de vo gile
jo lagaye tujh par tu
bol de
tu koi aur hai.
chehre jo
odhe tune vo
tere kahan hai?
saamne aa
khol de sab
jo hai dil mei
bol de ab.
tere raaste
khwaab hai tere.
tere sath jo
umra bhar chale.
aa inhe gale laga
tu kon hai bata?
aa khol de
yeh gile.
Oliver Baez Bendorf, “Everything All at Once”