tortuguita21
🏳️🌈🇵🇪🏳️⚧️ |📍somewhere in the libby trenches 🦞| he/him “the right side of history includes the universe itself.” such a trail mix of genres: flavor of choice? 🌈💅🤸🧚💁🐛 {usually queer}
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this novel took root in my brain, behind my eyes, in my heart, roots and thorns wrapped around them all until there was nothing else to feel. i drank it in, ravenous for more, for the pain, the fury, the vengeance, blossoming deep in my bones. all of drews’ books grasp humanity by the throat in bizarre, verdant, traitorous shapes. there is tragedy, yes, but a bittersweet beauty nonetheless, a cradling of what is precious. perhaps there could not be any other ending but one steeped in sorrow, and yet still, that thread, that plunging forward you take to hold its hand until the end you know is coming, is the pulse you seek to flutter your hesitant, then hungry, fingers along.
Bright Dead Things
Ada Limon
“but then even more sky comes and more days, and there is so much to remember and swallow” I’m definitely in a season of change in my life right now, with undergrad ending and law school beginning and everything that comes along with that. Depicting my life as saturated at this present moment is so interesting, and even more than that, this idea Limon plays with of it being so full and yet so open and capable of receiving more. It’s definitely shaping up to be one of my favorites thus far.
- What does this poem mean to you all?
- What do you think of her choice to invite us into one of her memories as a setup for her thoughts about saturation at the end?
You Better Be Lightning
Andrea Gibson
This is the most meaningful poem in the collection, to me. I have some strong personal memories connected to it. I cannot type much without getting emotional about it, so straight into the discussion questions we go:
- Why are specific stanzas indented? What topics do they discuss that differ from the rest of the poem? What do you think of this structure?
- How does Gibson's framing of death as infinity, as opposed to death as the ultimate end, change the tone of this poem?
- What does it mean to be a "grief astronomer"?
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tortuguita21 commented...
this one hits close to home for me too. i LOVE the way this one is formatted, it feels like it reflects the fact that healing isn’t linear and clawing your way out of the darkness means carving an uneven path. i think the indented stanzas are a window into escaping the darkness, into what finding light and healing can be like, especially when they talk about the sun, sunbathing, and screaming. death as infinity allows space to almost understand the unending relief that death provides for some, while also reflecting on how dying doesn’t really mean you’re gone. you leave an indelible mark on the people who will remember you, while you stretch into infinity. being a grief astronomer means charting a path through the darkness. it means using sadness as a path and map back to the light, while not forgetting the journey. it means keeping the truths you learn as muddle through close to your heart, and it also means lending support to those who don’t yet know a way through. i think the stanza that will always stay with me is: Come flood my home with your eyes. I read that people scream when they are in pain because screaming actually lessens the pain— anyone who asks you to hold your tongue is asking you to hold the heaviest thing in the galaxy.