“Once when I was living in the heart of a pomegranate, I heard a seed saying, “Someday I shall become a tree, and the wind will sing in my branches and the sun will dance on my leaves, and shall be strong and beautiful through all the seasons. ” – Kahil Gibran
The golden hour is known for producing natural light that is easy to work with. “It’s hard to overexpose or underexpose parts of an image, like a subject’s face, because the light is very even and has a golden hue. Itisinthesebriefmomentsdirectlyaftersunriseanddirectlybeforesunset thatthebestportraitsarecaptured,whenthelightbendsaroundthehumanformlikeahalo. Thereisnowaytoartificiallyreplicatethislight–theysayitlookslikelove. the drowsed light condensation crowned after laying among peaches and plum peel thick with pith the drowsed light condensation crowned after laying among peaches and plum peel thick with pith when fingers sink into waxy skin and tear away in soft white spirals sticking under pliant nails packed and clinging like dirt no inch of palm left untouched from the spill of sunned citrus ichor carving paths down the knobs of a wrist honeyed and sharp at the back of a throat the summer consumed back in torn slices a benediction gutted and halved and held up like an offering to a soft eye
My dad has worn the same kind of soft-knit hats for a decade they're three for a pack, not especially thick but soft from all the years and washes His favorite is the color of old amber of the old handrails that he took out back and painted neon I don't know if I've ever asked him why but now love is orange and soft yellow and gold and sometimes the poem writes itself.
Predatingthe15thcentury,therewasnoEnglishname forthecolororange. It was referred to as either yellow-red or bythename ofashade,suchassaffron. It isoftenbelievedthatthefruittookitsnamefromits color,butitisinfactthe opposite– the name of the fruit tree comes from Tamil.
Citrus sinensis is not a naturally occurring species. Based on genetic analysis, most experts agree that this is a hybrid plant resulting from a purposeful cross between a hybrid mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata) and a hybrid pomelo (Citrus maxima) Exactly when and where this cross took place is not fully understood, although some evidence suggests southern China may be the point of origin.
it'slateafternoonandyou'retossingaclementinebackandforth,andihavetopretendthatiam lookingatthefruitandnotthecoloryoureyesturninthesun. you'retellingsomekindofstory andlaughingaroundeveryword.iwanttosaysomethinglike did you know that Clementia was the goddess of forgiveness. I think I understand why ormaybe give me my orange back or just let me peel it for you, butI'mafraidthatanythingisaywillsoundtoomuchlike i love you.
1. It takes me 15 minutes to get my outfit ready in the morning. I love to be sure that my clothes, hair, nails, shoes, and clothes are matching, sometimes I like to put on lashes too. I like to look pretty to feel pretty. I don’t like it when clothes don’t match, or anything really. When I was younger I didn’t care as much but now I do. My appearance matters the most to me. I want to be comfortable and cute.
2. I was raised by women who knew how to dress, so I felt like I had to meet that criteria so I surrounded myself with fashionable people. I am spoiled, so I often wear green or try to wear yellow. I like to keep hoodies since I don’t like people all the time, or skirts when I feel more modest.
3. I like to get a sense of my roots, gold, silver, and pearls. Skirts flowing, diamonds dancing, bracelets singing. Owning who I am with the clothes I got, no matter what the occasion is. I will dance in the sun, swaying with the sand. Living with the styles I like to rock.
4. The way clothes can tell you a lot about a person and what they are like. People who buy expensive things sometimes want to be seen or feel better. Others who wear cheap things don’t care about their appearance or what people think. These things are assumed and left alone. Things shouldn’t be assumed in any way but what can we do.
10.I’mwastingtimestaringintoamagicmirror,repeatedlyasking“Who’sthegreatestof themall?”tofindthenextpersontocomparemyselfto,thenextpersontoberatemyself fornotbeinglike.ButIrarelyturnthatmirrorinwardsandseewhat I’m doingwrongand what I cancontrol.Inthewordsofmytherapist,ImightnotbeaSnowWhiteora SleepingBeauty(whowouldwanttobethem,anyway?),butIcouldalwaysbea just-as-importantprincessinaneighboringkingdom.
11. NoonehasreallysaidthatIbelonginthebackground.NoonehassaidthatI’mlessthan them.Eveniftheydid,whatmakesthemsohighandmightythattheythinktheycan decidewho’simportantandwho’snot?WhileIdon’tknowexactly what putmethere,I knowit’smyconsciouschoiceto stay there.HowdoIexpectotherstoseemeifIdon’t seemyselfforwhoIam?
Perhaps the most common injury to swimmers is repeated trauma and overuse of the rotator cuff in the shoulder. when the arm is repetitively used in a position above the horizontal line of the body. in each of the four swimming strokes, in every cycle of the arms, Out of the four tendons in the rotator cuff, the supraspinatus is most prone to tearing.
I once went out to the water in the middle of a storm.
I lined my nose to the horizontal plane of the water’s rippling front and watched each raindrop as it hit the surface. They joined together in the stratosphere and separated as they rain down,
only to join again at the end. Arm in arm, hand in hand, each mouth-full of water that was forced into my mouth by a lake-front wave Each one community, isn’t it?
There is initial redness, followed by varying degrees of pain, the severity of which correlates with the duration and intensity of sun exposure. Ultraviolet radiation causes sunburns and increases the risk of skin cancer. DNA is damaged by UVB light. Snow blindness is sunburn of the cornea. you can still get sunburnt in the winter. The best treatment for most sunburns is time; most sunburns heal completely within a few weeks.
wikipedia.org
You can still get sunburnt in the winter, did you know that? Put sunscreen on before going to sled, you might slide into a mirage of sand. There's a beach somewhere out there in the snow, and in my head I'm praying this is a sunburn, not frostbite.
Do you know what it means to swallow a cherry pit? Feel that seed growing in your heart for months, where it will eventually sprout roots down your legs like veins. Do you know it beats with your blood like a bleeding heart?
When the stems finally sprout from underneath my nails Or like lashes from my eyes
I’ll eat it before you can catch a glimpse, and save it for summer right before you’ll never see me again.
Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is a flowering plant species with sweet, juicy flesh that is usually deep red to pink with many black seeds. It's a sweet, commonly consumed fruit of summer, usually as fresh slices, diced in mixed fruit salads, or as juice that can be blended or made into wine. (en.wikipedia.org)
I once stood in the grass barefoot, fireworks in my hands and a Fling in my heart
Because you helped me up onto the carousel seat Nailed to a sap-draining tree
The trunk was sticky and for just that one night, my hands were too in your presence.
In the context of hunting, lookout points are strategic locations used to observe and track wildlife, they could be located at the Tower Top, providing hunters with a vantage point to spot prey.
https://thehuntercotw.fandom.com
As fireworks burst through the sky And chicago is filled with smoke I Step outside onto my balcony and Breath in
do you ever wonder what happens to the few ashes That don’t make it all the way up?
love is saving. fruit flavored feelings, remedies of childhood cherries kept close sweetness soothing the summer of cold hearts interlocked, bound at the stem the pit that fell deep grew a cherry tree, hope the stem will grow thick; juicy fruits to pluck hope one day summer will bloom year rou– nd think it will never rot; the rainbow fru– its made of of thoughts when the tree gro– ws, left pla–nted In the garden of mid–night memories hope to be the cherry not the pit In the ground, buried with the roots and stems hope to have a funeral in thoughts, even if I'm not truly dead commemorate death this summer so we can meet again next spring. paint the heart cherry flavored, bring it to the pole on may–day, wrapped with strings hope to be the start not a fray at the end summer is cherry s–eason, chewed around the pit, flicked off the palm; a coin heads and tales lost in the fa–rms long grass. cherry season in summer. bury me there love is remembering. The sm–ell of clothes, stains of hair dye and sleeping in school melted shortcake, your window sill, hope to be there, not a background character in dreams; a lingering itch they hold off of s–cratching so the scab doesn’t bleed remedies of childhood cherries kept close lost in the farm's long grass curly hair like wheat, the weight of your hands in mine; burdened hope to grow strong, pluck hope from the tree so when the cherry falls I know how to remove the stain remember me when the cherry tree grows, and the fruits are sweeter then any words I spoke
1. The tallest tree in the world is named Hyperion. It’s in Redwood National Park, and it’s three-hundred seventy-nine feet tall. Visitation is restricted, due to the amount of trash and damage people potentially have and may cause to it
2. I’ve never been able to keep plants alive. I wanted to get into gardening, but when I went to a plant shop, I ended up getting a pot shaped like a bird instead, which I plan to use to store rocks These are cool rocks I got them at a museum. But they’re not alive, so it’s not impressive that they aren’t dead.
3. Deforestation causes about one hundred thirty seven species to go extinct per day. Furthermore, the main cause of deforestation is to grow crops that will be fed to animals for slaughter There’s something grim about that, isn’t there?
(4,5,6)
7. People don’t think climate change will end the world. The people who make the decisions that contribute most to it will suffer the least effects. It’s like that for most things But it’s totally understandable for people to do absolutely nothing to stop causing others to die, because why should their actions be theirresponsibility? It makes more sense to blame the corporations who use the most energy And the best way to do this is to continue paying those corporations for the things that use that energy. Because it could never be our faults
8. One example of those things: I always wanted a fake tree. In my room. Or, maybe not always, but for a while It would be part of a forest theme, the walls and ceilings painted to be the sky with fake grass on the ground and fake plants hung from various places But it had to be fake Fake dirt, fake leaves, fake sky. I don’t know why. It just feels more whimsical, to have a plastic tree instead of a real one. Or a poem about trees, or an essay about them. But I’ll walk right past real ones
9 Fun fact about trees: they don’t have feelings If you chop a tree down, or slowly peel its bark off, or yank leaf by leaf from its branches, it wouldn’t care. At least, that’s what you’d hope. But I’d bet that people would continue the way they are without a second thought even if we found out that a tree was aware of every inch of their self, every stimulus they absorb causing pain or joy or some sort of value that can’t exist outside of sentience. We wouldn’t even need to find a new excuse, and we’d never admit that it’s wrong So I hope that trees don’t have feelings, because sometimes it’s better to experience nothing than to experience something
10. And sometimes the good is just okay and the bad is really bad. So what are you supposed to do, then? Isn’t it better to do nothing? But no, you’re supposed to wake up every morning and go to sleep every night, and, worst of all, the stuff in between You’re supposed to care about stuff that you don’t care about, even when people will say directly to your face that they don’t care about you or anyone else, and that’s your problem now.
11. This may seem whiny, but teachers keep giving me assigned seats. In addition, they’ll answer any “I don’t want to”s with “I don’t care”s Which is funny, because, yeah. Obviously you don’t care. You’re not the one sitting there. You get to choose where you sit. You have free will. You have so much free will that if people were to tell you not to kill the planet or sentient beings, you’d think they were infringing on your rights.
12. And it’s not just about the seats, or about not being with friends. It’s a lot about that, but it’s not just about that It’s about the way nothing in my life is my choice. Even the stuff that others don’t force me to do, it’s not up to me. I didn’t choose to live in this skin, or what the weather is like, or to have to eat food to survive. Trees have even less choice.
I don’t care
Trees can’t move. They can grow in the direction of the sun, but they can’t wave their branches about in a sign of pure joy, and they can’t cry or talk. They can’t do a lot of things, but the things they can do are remarkable If a tree had feelings, they would have to stand there, frozen, unable to move. And they’d have to watch as someone else uses their own personalfreedom to take away that of the tree. They’d have to stand there, frozen, as their entire being is taken away, to be put into a new end table or piece of paper that no one will look at as more than a dumping ground for their random junk. And if they had the vocal cords to beg for their lives, they, 99 times out of 100, would only be met with one phrase.
LILY WALSH - 1/16/13
The Sun is about 100 times wider than Earth, and 10 times wider than Jupiter. The king of the solar system which reigns high above the others yet never leaves their level. It is the only star explicitly included within the solar system. It is the heart. The sun is about 5 billion years old. ~sun~ is the
LILY WALSH - 1/16/25
Within every year he opened his eyes, he brought life and worked himself to bring life to us The sun is essential for all life to continue to grow Without him, we would continue to rot, The sun is actually a white color Purity is throughout the star It was born of gas and cloud dust. Breathe him into you, and embrace the message you receive.
~answer~
OSAGE
IlivedinasmallorangeapartmentonOsageStwhenIwasyoung My fathergotitforus,hesaidwecouldhavelivedagoodlifethere Foolishly asan8yearold,Ibelievedinthewordshespoke
And so,Ichangedmyselfcountlesstimes sothenexttimehesawme,hecouldn’t recognisemeorexpectmetofollowhim home
The balcony rails along with the bricks lining the front were colored a faded orange The paint rusted and chipped with each lie he promised me, and along with that, my parents' conversations faded away. Every day I would sit on the orange balcony and wonder. - Isn’t it confusing for an 8 year old girl?
Now look, she finds comfort in the scent of drugs as they remind her of her invisible father who promised her a good life in the orange house on Osage
Osage LW
If cuties are just small versions of oranges, What's the real difference between the two? One is smaller, sweeter, easier. I prefer the cutie as well, I am guilty of it. I am guilty of the mindset in which the sweeter and easier, the better You can carefully peel back the orange peel and eat the sweet fruit on the inside You throw away the bitter peel you strip from it, and
enjoy whatever is left
of it. It’s the same for regular oranges, right?
Don’t be bitter if you were not chosen. The sun, the little girl who lived on osage, and oranges were all in your place before that. Save yourself.
Teeth sank into my neck. I gasped, for room, for air, for anything, nails dragging down his back. The last thing I saw was him flushing a warm red as my own hands turned a ghostly pale He ravaged me, turned me into one of his own An ugly, grotesque imitation of a human
7. When a bond like this persists, it may be hard to retain. Mixing the wrong colour can result in differences in ambition Drifting from another person is like falling from the same side of the colour wheel, whether it's mutual or personal, it causes people to change Sometimes cooler tones are evened out by warmer ones, but in this slip falling to the same could be for the best.
8 Some bonds are created from completion rather than similarity The way yellow-green clashes with pink is something found more commonly in duos, though may be the most stable that there is I feel as though some people who are so different that are to be friends, no matter vast differences, have stronger bonds. And proves they can admire features that aren't a part of themself.
9. A daisy in a person symbolises beauty and tragedy, but what about other flowers? Can there be an opposite? I think if there is, the two would work well together; though canceling each other out isn't always the best The strongest bonds can also be the worst If opposite sides of the colour wheel clash too harshly, one will overtake the other. As if a daisy is spreading its rot.
Fins
Greg Witten
Entrance Notes
- Scared before we even met
- Rumors swirled worse than a whirlpool
- Meetings were always too hard from right off the shore
- Broken people see me when I break at last
- Brave ones are idiotic and nice ones always want to be platonic
- Scars want to be healed but scrambled images chose to stay in pain
- People want to glare knowing if see a drop of insecurity my eyes go black
- Is being sad okay?
- Can one still keep their stand by only sitting in the back of the line
Words only tickle one’s soul while items try to damage the body. Truth to the matter is that the body will only be hurt if one lets it. Everyone thinks the part of the saying talking about “breaking bones” matters but the real fact is bones have nothing to do with it. When taking bones out of the equation you keep your body intact from the pain by a will to keep the pain from frame.
Sticks and Stones Can’t Break Me
Savages Always Lied
Teeth tearing through those who pose a foe Tales and trails that all end in blood the truths of us were never left untouched
Redemption is a dream that ventured too far off in it’s cloud A checklist that’s too far down the road of liberation to ever see the finish line
Wherever you go, your image of darkness and foe is all you will know
The scent of righteousness is unknown to those who don’t know repose
Eyes of hate will only see pain, truth is nothing but a lie written from another time.
Miles and miles, endless cycles of great pain, hate, and blame Toxic kingdom to ruin in shame. Others of fear, they only run in vain. The false hope with the need of power they regained. It’s lonely at the top but worst when you're the god.
The other day I was on my computer, rushing typing on the keyboard [How to stitch up a deep wound] One hand over my torso, the other moving in rapid speed, flashing through the keys. My vision slowly haze as my memoires fly out on one plane Swimming through the waves with the current up against me. The beauty of coral graces my sight. Sea turtles, sting rays, fishes and all. Clouds formed in my sky when I felt like I was gonna die. The bite seeped in, my eyes soon raised. Fighting back with the will to survive, the fragment left was actually a key jammed inside
Rogers Park Didnt Deserve Me
By: Liam Benham
Dear Neighborhood,
Neighbors whether they live next door, down the street, or are anyone you may not know act as the foundation of my neighborhood Whether they have a pet bird or a potbelly pig, they contribute to this sense of community Neighbors come and go; everyone needs a change of environment sometimes But is it selfish to observe others as they appear and then disappear, to think about myself? I walked down the perpendicular streets of Wayne and Pratt with my thoughts askew, everything tangled into avenues and roads without bricks and a lapse of judgment. I missed them and the old concrete, to an existential point beyond my reach. All I have to do is keep walking
The body of our people lay within the atmosphere of Rogers Park, my handprints painted and printed into the playground They sit on the stone ledge in pink paint next to my sisters Whoever I never got to find out who, who left the nine footprints in the undried concrete they leave behind a mark which made me wonder What mark have I left? I mean it’s done so much for me though I’ve yet to do anything in return. It taught me how to ride a bike, and how to quit. How to navigate from point A to B, from A to Z. Many murals along the train tracks or benches show an unspoken history that my sidewalk chalk couldn’t. In return I need to attribute to something, maybe a book something someone can stumble upon A remnant of what heaven used to be
My life doesn't go far beyond Rogers Park beyond the paths traced by the Pottawatomi to the paths being traced by me and others Rogers Park since the 1800’s has built itself to the ground into the gem it is, with unique buildings from Frank Lloyd Wright and ornate and victorian bungalows or theaters filled with the crafty and spirited charm of its citizens. Although some of its eras have been unseen by me, I appreciate every step it took to create such a beautiful place I call home.
I searched everywhere for my place in perfection. I cherish every brick that has been built, even though I have never built any myself I have a strong connection to places like Armadillo's Pillow a bookstore where my childhood babysitter worked and Heartland Cafe, a community gem known for fashion shows and chocolate milk with ice As a kid, when I drank chocolate milk, I never thought about how the ice cubes would feel against the roof of my mouth, but that sensation was so distinct it would never melt Over time, I lived oblivious to the rain washing my life and my chalk drawings away from me. I watched signs flipped closed and gems shattered into rubble. I watched buildings replace one another until Sheridan Rd and Glenwood Ave became unrecognizable.
The core gradually turned against me The rain and dirt washing off my handprints and it was a sign I needed to talk to the heart of my home And so once again I searched I had nothing to do but search for an answer Wonder is what I’ve been doing since the start Since my parents brought me home from the hospital, since I’ve learned to walk, I never stopped Never stopped being myself in a world beyond a couple of blocks, because eventually block towers always tumble and that didn’t sit right with me. Neighbors the people around me act as the foundation of a leaning tower of blocks. I hope one day an opportunity will arise for me to show the amount of appreciation I do towards you.
