Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

George Sand, in a letter to Gustave Flaubert

Nikki Giovanni, Mirrors

Anne Sexton, A Self-Portrait in Letters

Mary Oliver, Dogfish

on choosing kindness. again and again.

dealing with the worst case scenario

your condom breaks

you feel a lump on your breast

your friends are ignoring you

you’re stranded on an island 

you got rejected by a crush

you get into a car accident

you got stung by a bee/wasp

you got fired from your job

you’re in an earthquake

your tattoo gets infected

your house is on fire

you’re lost in the woods

you get arrested abroad

you get robbed

your partner cheated on you

you’re on a ship that’s sinking

you fall into ice

you’re stuck in an elevator

you hit a deer with your car

you have food poisoning

your pet passed away

you fall off of a horse

you or your friend has alcohol poisoning

you have toxic shock syndrome

your house has a gas leak

You know what I think? It’s cold, unlovable bitches like us make the world go round. EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (2022)

i don’t pretend to know the exact contours of your life. but i know the shape of pain, of loss. i know the feeling of staring your past in its eyes and being crushed under its icy gaze, under the weight of all of the decisions you haven’t made and the consequences of the ones you have. i know the gut wrenching feeling of putting your faith in the world and being let down once again. these feelings are as universal as music and art and sharing bread with the ones you love. maybe the great challenge of being human is finally understanding that we are not alone in this.

from ‘Bright Dead Things’ by Ada Limón

my father couldn’t warm my frozen hands

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