scribblings
april 29&30
the writing
Two sisters, ever loving, ever dichotomous. One spent her days in the sun, tending to her gardens & animals, all muddy clothes & dirt under her nails. The other shut herself up in a tower, pouring over grimoires, studying moon phases & star signs… When one foresaw a great plague, the sunny sister ventured far to find the cure. When the brighter was kidnapped to wed an overconfident king, the darker cursed him to sleep until her sister was returned to her. They braid each other’s hair & sing each other’s favourite song; cook their favourite meals & make magical gifts that always delight on the birthday they share. And as the seasons change, their love for each other remains.
~
a cold goodbye under a hazy moon and gasping stars
~
She knelt at a scorched altar, praying: oh Mother Sun, lion-faced & bloody-handed, please— She knelt at the altar as the Earth cracked open, as fire rained down. She rose from the altar, her body gilded in golden flames, so armoured for the task ahead…
~
witness: the poet writing behind bars, in dust as the flowers bloom
the reading
Poem: “In a Dream” by Anna Akhmatova (trans. by Lenore Mayhew & William McNaughton)
“You and I Are like grief and the mountain, We will not meet in this world. But sometimes will you send across the stars A sign?”
Essay: “Me Vs. Brené Brown” by Mikka Jacobsen (from Modern Fables)
“Is Brené Brown unaware of her nation’s rich and shameful literary tradition? It seems this can’t be so. In Daring Greatly, Brown disparages shame in the classroom as ‘the scarlet letter approach to teaching.’ And she so loves the allegorical impulse, what with her capitalization of abstract values, Wholehearted and so on. But these cursory glances are perhaps no allusions, and point more toward ignorance. For what I ultimately discover in Brené Brown is something I ought to have known all along: if you want to explore the great mysteries and truths of human nature, you should turn to literature, not self-help.”
