radiosaturday

I'm not at all normal about this album. There's something going on here that I'm trying to articulate, but I don't think I quite get there.

nature artwork by Andy Goldsworthy

Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae (The Great Art of Light and Shadow). Athanasius Kircher 1646.

A week in my life

the thing about the fall is that literally he was in a doomed narrative of his own making and this random little girl loved him so much she reached right in and plucked him out of his story. he was on a road doomed to die. he was walking out of life with his eyes open and his fingers crossed and she looked at him and said show me your hands! he has a daughter!! she loves him!!! let him live. promise? and it works. she can see stars when she rubs her eyes and it's her story, too.

Annie Stegg

Any time you have the thought of "I'll remember it later," that's your hubris speaking. Write it down

shoutout to j.d. duff for translating ‘scit, cruor imperii qui sit, quae viscera rerum’ as ‘he knows where the blood of the empire runs, the pulse of the machine’ bcs that’s very much Not What It Says In The Latin BUT it’s also sexy as hell

Nam June Paik, ‘Candle TV’, 1990

Instead of the normal media commentary, tabletop gaming thoughts, paranoid rants, and similar, we've decided today to publish a piece of flash fiction. It's a short work, though long by flash standards, at 900 words, that -- to my eye -- draws inspiration from the eerie and ghostly end of Southern Gothic, as well as the ecological weird popularized by Jeff VanderMeer.

We're quite happy to have this.

Also, as an aside, linked on our website, you can find our submission guidelines. Our response times are slow, but we are a paying market. Something to consider.

Ilyas Phaizulline, Grief

by gettymuseum

Clean Monday Feast  - Spyros Vasileiou , 1950.

Greek, 1902–1984

Oil on wood panel , 125 x 78 cm.

"

So, I want to ask: what is the role of poetry in genocide?

Samah Fadil: This question reminds me of the call to action Rasha Abdulhadi sent to me and urged other writers to use: “Whatever sand you can throw on the gears of genocide, do it now.” Poetry is sand that can be thrown on the gears of genocide, so I agree with Solmaz—the aesthetic pleasure comes second. But, one must remember that sand is made up of trillions of particles of eroding rock. Poetry is sand but sand is not only poetry… Poetry is a tool that can be wielded by anyone—for good or bad, status or self, self or salve. In my experience, I can’t say that my poetry has changed anyone but myself, but when I think of all of the poets that have inspired me to reach for my pen, and who continue to do so, I’d like to think that in some way, we are all continuously changing with each other’s words.

The answer above was written before the recent targeted assassination of beloved Gazan poet Dr. Refaat Alareer, and feels especially haunting now. I wish more people knew of him and his work before he was martyred. I wish people knew the poets who are still breathing as much as they knew the ones who are not. But to go back to the question, what is the role of poetry in genocide? After seeing the literal hundreds of people around the world who translated Refaat’s poem “If I must die”, it’s a reminder to me that in our hundreds, in our millions, we are all Palestinian. My last interaction with Refaat was him asking me to send him a clearer image of my poem “lucid”. I was so incredibly honored he asked. I did, and I hope he got to read my words. I hope he enjoyed them. He is someone who held poetry very, very dear to his heart and someone who taught its revolutionary potential to his students. My role as a poet is to honor that legacy.