In the first country I lived in we had these small packets of liquorice called GaJol. They were my favourite, because I like liquorice, but also because on the back of each packet was a small joke, a word play or a fancy quote. Sometimes I would tear one off and keep them, but most of the time I just read them and threw them away, and the ones I kept would disappear as well – into the cracks of furniture and pockets and books. […]
universal love and pain
I’m not exactly sure how Rupi Kaur became such a publicly praised and well-known poet, but the first time I read anything of hers was just a snippet on Instagram – which incidentally is what brought on the backlash. How dare this millennial poet use a millennial mode of social interaction to publicize her millennial words? The word instapoets may be descriptive – “young poets publishing verse primarily on social media,” says that Guardian article I linked to – but it also sounds so dismissive, so […]
Every woman adores a Fascist
I found this beautiful version of Ariel at Hebden Bridge, a little town just beneath the hill where Plath is buried at Heptonstall. Later I would later hike up there and see the two churches, the old one, burned down or deteriorated by time, and the new one that seemed dull to me compared to the expanse of a forgotten church. I didn’t know she was buried there so I walked right past her with her book in my bag. In the dullest of conclusion […]
Some Odes
It has been a couple of years since I read any poetry, and the last time was also at the behest of the fine folks over at Book Riot and their annual Read Harder Challenge. I don’t know if I’m going to manage to complete this year’s challenge by the end of December – I know what books I am going to read for the remaining challenges, but I don’t know that I’ll be able to fit them all in. But I wasn’t going to […]