old books gutted like fish scales of knowledge tipped by the devil's hand

[Blessed Art Thou Among Women by Gertrude Käsebier (1899)]

seeds of beauty in the turmoil

cross of joy

the ginkgo is an ancient tree beloved by dinosaurs

word of the day: conviction (Truth, she finally understood, was not something found but rather stood by with benign clarity. In that way, truth was angelic.) 💫

guardians of what we know and cannot forget

Half-Life and Drowning--these are my two poems, which i hope you'll read, in the wonderful Cable Street @cablestreet-litmag.bsky.social thanks to Dana Delibovi @danadelibovi.bsky.social cablestreet.org/issue-12-tab...

ask for what you wish. ask full throated. the birds sing, they devour silence. they freeze in flight, such that their message is not obstructed but rather followed. ask for the desires of the heart, and extend them so they can be conquered by an even greater kindness, which is love.

I lost the language of others. ~Clarice Lispector (The Apple in the Dark)

who are they? from time to time i encounter this photo mixed with others from the cowboy side of my family. not quite guardians, i suspect they're connected to Charlie Pete, friend of Grandpa.

you are invited to read Playing Possum, which originally appeared in Little Patuxent Review. just go to ulricahume.com/story-time/ and enter the password "readme"

word of the day: give (as in to give is to receive) 💫

here's wishing your inner child a happy day.

I wanted what I wrote to be the pleasure concealed within misery. My debt of joy to a world I do not find easy. ~Clarice Lispector (Too Much of Life: The Complete Crônicas)

Only one who loves can remember so well. ~Anton Chekhov

little leaf and petal portals (for the departed)

what you see is a brave illusion. what you see is the underside of a stone, scary darkness. what you see is invisible, therefore a haunting. an answer comes from the lonely cries of those afflicted, and this is a blessing also. these seeds are in you, of you, given. these seeds contain the world.

Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose. ~Albert Einstein

i invite you to read Jewel. won't you? it originally appeared in Ellipsis Zine (no longer online). just go to ulricahume.com/story-time/ and enter the password "readme"

She had had such a strong feeling that she needed to talk to someone who would tell her some secret that would make everything alright. She had been unable to think who it was. ~Helen Oyeyemi