burning in the open field

Apr. 18th, 2026 04:52 pm
oliviacirce: (soliloquy//curtana)
[personal profile] oliviacirce
It is not uncommon for me to sit on a poem for years and years before posting it, because I collect poems and only have 30(ish) spots per year. I've had this one in the file for long enough that I have it saved in multiple places, but it never does get less evocative or relevant; it's also fascinating to me how different it is from both his earlier and later poetry, while also using language in such a recognizable way. Is Richard Siken in favor with the internet again? I honestly don't care, but I've always liked his poetry, including back when he was a tumblr fandom darling. This is not really a tumblr fandom poem, but it sticks with me.

Landscape with a Blur of Conquerors )

wild iris, duff, waterfall, dew

Apr. 17th, 2026 08:13 pm
oliviacirce: (open road//oxoniensis)
[personal profile] oliviacirce
Take me back to the woods, please. (But actually, I took two pretty nice walks today; could be worse.)

Yes, That's When )

Green pants (trousers) saga

Apr. 17th, 2026 12:09 pm
cimorene: closeup of four silver fountain pen nibs on white with "cimorene" written above in blackletter (blackletter)
[personal profile] cimorene
Here's another fun ADHD story. I bought a pair of pants that are a lovely jungle green over two years ago from Freddie's of Pinewood (no longer there; they were limited run) (sorta-splurge, because they're "slow fashion" + customs fee from England). They close with a button but not a hook, and I immediately ordered a hook to sew in them, but then I didn't get around to doing that for the last MORE THAN TWO YEARS because I never planned an occasion to wear them. (They aren't dressy occasion pants. They're just cotton twill.) Today I thought to myself, "I might as well sew it in, or I'll never be able to wear them once I decide to."

Then I looked in my sewing kit, my spare needle and thread and button case, the sewing table in the living room, and the little basket full of embroidery tools, which was all the places I could think of where it might be. But no luck. I can't find the hook&bar. I'll have to order another because there's not a sewing shop in town (you can buy mending materials like thread, patches, low quality needles etc including regular hooks and eyes and zippers at supermarkets and the Finnish equivalent of K-Mart, but the larger flat hook and bar that goes on waistbands is apparently less in demand).

I am planning a trip to the big mall with rancid vibes next week, because Wax wants more fun socks and you can't get those locally; but I'm afraid I'm unlikely to find one there either. The last time I ordered from an online shop that would carry them was less than a month ago, because I finally started knitting socks to give to Wax's family next winter! But of course I had no memory of the issue then.

This is obviously not just an ADHD tax, though; it's also hardly having left the house in that time (burnout, depression?) and putting these pants on a pedestal (what a distracting metaphor... pant pedestal) because I'm so jazzed to have found pants in such a great color. And feeling that I don't have any tops that are as good, though I now know what I want to knit to go with them (a striped zigzag or ripple tee something like this, with lavender and green and blue).

forged by the heart

Apr. 16th, 2026 01:19 pm
oliviacirce: (nyc//jai)
[personal profile] oliviacirce
I am posting this in honor of tonight's season finale of The Pitt, because I simply would not be me doing poetry month if I did not draw fandom poetry parallels. I'm a couple of episodes behind, though, so no spoilers. I also just really love the things Jack Gilbert does with language, and although I was initially going to post a different Gilbert poem this year, this one snuck up on me. I love a poem about place.

Searching for Pittsburgh )

(no subject)

Apr. 16th, 2026 03:45 pm
turps: (mwlight)
[personal profile] turps
I had a bit of an adventure today and went to a different branch of my gym, the big branch in Sunderland city centre. That meant many more machines to use and now, of course, every muscle in my body is starting to ache as I had to try out everything that was new to me. What I'd actually made the trip for was the bigger branches have hydro massage beds you can use as part of your membership, and I've wanted to try one for a while. So, today I did and oh man, it was good. It especially felt good on my lower back and legs. Then I went and destroyed that feeling on the machines.

Next time, work out first, then massage.

I'll still mostly go to my local branch as that's within easy walking distance, but this other one I'll try to get there with James once a week as it was good for him, too. Also, has much better music as they were playing Linkin Park at one point.

Yesterday we were also in Sunderland as James needed to collect his new glasses, and while we were in town we picked up our cards for the newly opened The Community Shop. It's on the same basis as Company shop, selling surplus food for cheap, just for this version only people on means tested benefits can join. I could be a member due to getting the carers' allowance so signed online a while ago, and went to get the actual card yesterday.

We ended up waiting in a queue for over an hour, and then the person who took my photo took the worst picture ever. She was so stressed with so many people waiting she hurried the process so only half my head is in shot and the lighting is horribly harsh, so I look like some gargoyle with half a face. But, she made no suggestion to retake so guess I'm stuck with it.

I doubt I'll use this shop as much as Company due to a lack of parking, but it's always good to have options. Especially so as members can also use the attached heavily discounted café and really, being able to get a main meal for £1.50 is a good thing.

Now, part of a post that I started on Monday.

It was a sweaty one at class today, not helped by the heating being on despite it being a lovely, sunny spring day. It was the biggest group we've had for a while, which is why it's a shame that the classes for the next two Wednesdays have been cancelled due to meetings, just as people have started to come back. But, Mondays are still on which is good.

So, got tidied up before going there, did class, came home, and I've made another batch of vegetable soup, so that's cooking in the slow cooker now.

We went to the cinema to see You, Me and Tuscany on Saturday. I do like a romcom and this was a good one. A predictable plot but set in a beautiful place with lots of sunshine, so you could just sit back, not think and enjoy what was on-screen. And James stayed awake for the whole thing.

After leaving there we drove to Corey's flat to drop his and Sharna's Easter sweets off. So, it was nice to spend some time with him.

the rapture of being alive

Apr. 15th, 2026 05:46 pm
oliviacirce: (illyria//dropsofsunshine)
[personal profile] oliviacirce
This one goes out to loons and Shane Hollander and those middle-of-the-night moments of clarity.

The Loon )

but yet the body is his book

Apr. 14th, 2026 08:30 pm
oliviacirce: (political philosophy//blimey_icons)
[personal profile] oliviacirce
It's my birthday! We went to NASA (Space Center Houston!) because I am 41 and still a space kid at heart. I was thinking about space poems to post (or moon poems, or poems about planets), and that got me to a not-super-surprising metaphysical place and then I thought, "I miss inflicting John Donne on people my birthday." So here is a deeply weird Donne poem that I have not posted before. (I posted "The Sun Rising" in 2008, otherwise you'd obviously be getting that one.) But what is this bonkers poem about, you may ask. The body? Sex? Death? Plato? Soul bonds? Being drift compatible with a possibly dead person while sharing a grave? All of the above, probably. It also has one of my favorite and most quintessentially "this is disgusting, bro, what are you doing" Donne couplets, which is the one about the eye-stalks.

The Ecstasy )

planet trouble

Apr. 13th, 2026 06:20 pm
oliviacirce: (stacks//bunnymcfoo)
[personal profile] oliviacirce
I post a lot of queer poetry, which should really come as no surprise to anyone. I also buy a lot of poetry books, especially in and around the month of April; when we were in New York last year, I bought Stephanie Burt's 2025 anthology Super Gay Poems, which is really fantastic and highly recommended for both the brilliant essays about each poem and the poems themselves. It also gives me a lot of personal joy because it doesn't have a single poem in it that I've already posted (in 19 years!!), which is so cool and exciting—although there are a handful of poems I've read in the anthology, and several poets I've heard of (or posted other work by), I really love the part of doing this each year where I get to learn and discover new-to-me poems and poets.

Since I skipped yesterday, I am going to indulgently post two poems from the anthology which are completely unrelated, except that they both haunt me (and also both have great enjambment).

Mermaid )

*

Heart Condition )

o moon

Apr. 11th, 2026 09:59 pm
oliviacirce: (due north//jai)
[personal profile] oliviacirce
Just a little late-night one, tonight, but it sings.

The way I must enter )

Halfway through "What We Are Seeking"

Apr. 11th, 2026 04:00 pm
rydra_wong: Lee Miller photo showing two women wearing metal fire masks in England during WWII. (Default)
[personal profile] rydra_wong
and oh god it's so good, that unique polished authorial confidence of The Fortunate Fall is so back, and like The Fortunate Fall it's a book that's somehow slipped out of time, not exactly in sync with the present moment in sf/f but maybe both older and newer, and it's very quiet and calm except for that bit in a recent chapter which actually made me make an involuntary noise of shock and alarm out loud, and I have no idea where it's going and I hope she sticks the landing but right now the vibes are Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand and The Left Hand of Darkness, and what with those being two of my favourite novels ever, I'm having a very good time.
cimorene: Vintage light fixture with arms ending in rainbow colored cone-shaped shades radiating spherically from a small black ball (stilnovo)
[personal profile] cimorene
I think a clock that chimed every hour would be really helpful to me. It would be like having an alarm that goes off once an hour, but totally benign, instead of making me jump like an alarm. It would be nicer if the church belltower did - belltower chimes are the best ones, I think. Meanwhile lots of clocks don't even tick now, which I find very annoying, because I like to listen for the ticks and count them.

the narrative burden of events

Apr. 10th, 2026 12:46 pm
oliviacirce: (open road//oxoniensis)
[personal profile] oliviacirce
Fady Joudah is a Houston-based poet (and doctor) who I first learned about through his translations of Mahmoud Darwish—one of which I may post later in the month—and then because Brazos Bookstore, one of our favorite independent bookstores in town, always tries to highlight local authors. I picked up a copy of Joudah's 2024 poetry collection last year and was thinking about posting a couple of different poems, but then I read this earlier one on Poetry Foundation and couldn't stop thinking about it, so here we are. Still on the subject of the moon, sort of.

Moon Grass Rain )

(no subject)

Apr. 10th, 2026 01:10 pm
turps: (no words)
[personal profile] turps
Bodhi and Kayleigh dropped in for a little while yesterday. While here Bodhi went and stood in front of the shelves in the living room and asked why I had all of that stuff, meaning my display of Funkos. So, I explained, like her, I liked superheroes, at which point she said, if I liked superheroes where was Spider-Man? Sorry various Hawkeyes, Ronin, Winter Soldier etc, you're just not superheroes enough it seems. But sigh, judged by a four-year-old and found lacking again.

The craft fair on Monday was a weird one. Despite being there from before nine to four, the time seemed to fly, and yet we only made one sale, so didn't even get the table price back. Mainly it was due to location, when we'd first been offered a spot it was mentioned there were tables outside and inside, and while that was true, there was actually only one table inside, the rest being in the pub garden, so it wasn't very often people actually saw the one in the foyer at the back. Which of course, was the one we'd been assigned. I mean, it was good to be warm with some decent music to listen to, but you need people for sales.

One bonus was the pub was just over the car park from a Morrisons, so I went there for two meal deals for dinner, because nearly £5 for one drink of Pepsi Max from the pub was only going to happen once.

The organiser did ask if James wanted a table at the next event, but thankfully, it's the same date as the monthly maker's market in our town we always attend, so we didn't have to make up an excuse to turn down the invite.

A couple of people have been reading and commenting on many of my bandom stories lately, and getting those comments has been delightful. I especially liked the one on Painted Ponies where they commented, and when i replied, replied to that comment with even more detailed feedback, saying they'd thought I'd have been long gone from the fandom. And nope, despite the lack of actual writing, still love that ridiculous band, still hanging onto to the edges of the fandom with a few other fandom bandom olds.

Funnily enough, the last comment was on Caged where the band is saved by Spider-Man, adding to the Spidey mentions this week.

I was in Lush the other day buying a bunny bath bomb for Bodes, and they had these sparkly ET bath bombs )

ask the moon

Apr. 8th, 2026 12:38 pm
oliviacirce: (rainbow//renne)
[personal profile] oliviacirce
I asked my wife how many poems about the moon I was allowed to post this week, and she said "all of them?" So we may have a week or so of moon poems, for obvious reasons. Since I missed yesterday, here are two.

Why Are Your Poems So Dark? )

*

Bless the Moon )
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