New Poems
Jan. 7th, 2026 10:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithbeavertech has posted the January batch of sponsored poems. :D"So Many Words for Wood" on
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
first_nations_freaks"The Infinity of Acorns" on
scienceworld"Birds and Snow" on
the_magick_circle"A Piecemeal Apocalypse" on
thefreaksclub
Shopping
Jan. 7th, 2026 05:14 pmysabetwordsmithbrickhousewench tipped me to Heading Prints, a company that makes scarves using book art as inspiration. They offer bandanas, skinny scarves, large rectangular scarves, square silky scarves, and also a few rings with designs to match some of their most popular scarf designs. Also, these are much more affordable on average than most fashion scarves I've seen, although they do cost more than the cheap random ones in a discount store.If you've seen my post "How to Simplify Fashion," then consider these scarves as an option for color-matching. Look for a scarf whose colors you love and want to use. Wear it while clothes shopping to test if new clothes match your colors.
Birdfeeding
Jan. 7th, 2026 01:10 pmysabetwordsmithToday is partly cloudy and cool.
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 1/7/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 1/7/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
EDIT 1/7/26 -- I gathered the raked leaves from the ritual meadow, enough to fill the trolley twice, which I dumped on the daffodil bed. (That should have been done in fall, but better late than never.) One quarter around the firepit equaled two trolleys and covered the daffodil bed completely. The tulip bed will need at least twice that much.
I startled several cardinals and the great-horned owl in the ritual meadow.
EDIT 1/7/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
I filled a trolley with sticks from the brushpile beside the driveway, then dumped that in the firepit.
EDIT 1/7/26 -- I filled another trolley with sticks, then dumped that in the firepit.
There's not much left of the brushpile now, mostly pieces too big for me to break down.
It's 5:05 PM. The western sky is still twilight, the east considerably darker.
I am done for the night.
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 1/7/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 1/7/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
EDIT 1/7/26 -- I gathered the raked leaves from the ritual meadow, enough to fill the trolley twice, which I dumped on the daffodil bed. (That should have been done in fall, but better late than never.) One quarter around the firepit equaled two trolleys and covered the daffodil bed completely. The tulip bed will need at least twice that much.
I startled several cardinals and the great-horned owl in the ritual meadow.
EDIT 1/7/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
I filled a trolley with sticks from the brushpile beside the driveway, then dumped that in the firepit.
EDIT 1/7/26 -- I filled another trolley with sticks, then dumped that in the firepit.
There's not much left of the brushpile now, mostly pieces too big for me to break down.
It's 5:05 PM. The western sky is still twilight, the east considerably darker.
I am done for the night.
sex, and slash sex scenes, and Heated Rivalry
Jan. 7th, 2026 12:31 pmthe_shoshannakass recently reminded me of this post I made fourteen years ago(!) titled “sex, and slash sex scenes,” in which I discussed how slash was the only genre of literature I had ever found [at the time I found it, circa 1989] that followed the characters into bed and back out of it; that investigated and demonstrated how the people they were outside of bed were connected to the people they were in bed; that modeled how to be with someone in everyday life, go to bed with them, and then wake up next to them and continue everyday life with them. In slash, "everyday life" wasn't differentiated from "sex life." Who people were outside of bed and during the day critically, obviously, demonstrably influenced how they behaved in bed with each other, and vice versa; but the characters never lost themselves or turned into different (wimpy wispy sappy) people because they had fucked. (Okay, sometimes they did, but those were the bad stories, the ones we mocked.) The two parts of life weren't disjunct; indeed, they were crucially connected, mutually influential, even indivisible. In fact, that indivisibility was often the whole point.Kass wondered how this might relate to Heated Rivalry, which I continue to be moderately obsessed with. I’m really grateful to her for pulling this up (hi,
kass! Thanks!), because I think it relates a lot.
HR has gotten a lot of press for being horny, for being extremely sexually explicit. (And hot. Which there's nothing wrong with. Fiction is often created with a goal of making the reader happy, or sad, or angry, or tense, along the way as part of the experience; "hot" is also a legit way for fiction to try to make the reader feel. Not that I think the people reading this need to be convinced of that!) But the sex is not "gratuitous" (i.e., existing only to make the reader hot); it is absolutely integral to the story being told. The way Shane and Ilya relate to each other through sex is what their relationship is built on. The long, detailed, explicit sex scenes are the places where they (and we) discover how they relate to each other: where Shane learns that Ilya may be an asshole but he is also scrupulously concerned with Shane's sexual consent, where Ilya is charmed by Shane's dorkishly careful folding of his clothes (the moment when, according to Rachel Reid, Ilya fell in love), where they learn to trust each other, to work together; and also where they are most vulnerable to each other and have to deal with that. (Or fail to deal with it. Cf. tuna melts, oh my heart.)
The sex scenes' importance as character development is illustrated in the negative by episode 3, the Kip and Scott episode. We get very little, comparatively speaking, of Kip and Scott in bed, because we don't need it. Kip and Scott have their own issues and concerns, but they're not sexual ones. We see them in bed so that we can see Scott say how into Kip he is, and his own moment of asking for explicit consent; and so that we can see a moment of them laughing together in bed, having fun, which I don't think we see Ilya and Shane doing until episode 6 ("Sir, I'm just the bellboy!"). Other than that we don't need to see the actual sex; the important sexual aspects of their relationship are conveyed by things like Scott flinging himself onto Kip on the couch (can I just say, those eyeglasses give me "sexy Daniel Jackson" vibes!) and by the "Can I fuck you?" "Absolutely" exchanges. The sex scenes in HR overall aren't "gratuitous," as demonstrated by the fact that, when they're not serving plot and character development, they're not there.
And it's illustrated even more in episode 5, which has no sex scenes at all, although Shane and Ilya have sex twice in it. The friend I did the Boxing Day marathon with commented, "We don't need to see the sex, now that they've learned to use their words," and I was like, "Yes! Words like 'Shane' and 'Ilya.'" And of course the sex in episode 6 is warm and playful and emotionally intimate in ways that they've never had before, and it's important for us to see that.
(Check out this paired gifset paralleling the ep 1 and ep 6 blowjobs: almost exactly the same moves, but one in a dark secret hotel room and one in the sunshine they both deserve. My heart.)
There are a lot of other reasons I love HR. I want to have the brain to post about its sound design at some point! But it is a god damn master class in telling a story involving, and through, sex.
(I lost some time trolling icon communities -- remember those? -- looking for a good HR icon, but none of the ones I found really worked for me. So I went with this one, because when the credits rolled on ep 6 as I finished my watchthrough with
dorinda, I punched the air and exulted, "My tax dollars at work!")Snowflake Challenge 4: Rec Your Last Page
Jan. 7th, 2026 12:03 pmysabetwordsmithChallenge 4: Rec Your Last Page
Any website that you like, be it fanfiction, art, social media, or something a bit more eccentric!
On many of the fannish websites we use, our history is easily compileable into "pages". When we look back through those pages, sometimes we stumble upon things that we think are rather cool.
( Read more... )
Any website that you like, be it fanfiction, art, social media, or something a bit more eccentric!
On many of the fannish websites we use, our history is easily compileable into "pages". When we look back through those pages, sometimes we stumble upon things that we think are rather cool.
( Read more... )
Snowflake
Jan. 7th, 2026 01:06 pmauthor_by_nightChallenge #4: Rec Your Last Page
Any website that you like, be it fanfiction, art, social media, or something a bit more eccentric!
Any website that you like, be it fanfiction, art, social media, or something a bit more eccentric!
I would like to defend two sites I think get a bad rap: Reddit and tumblr. (I say this as someone who rallied against tumblr for years.)
Q: My aunt and I got into an argument over her rosebushes. What should I do?
A: Your aunt is a malignant narcissist. You should immediately cut all contact.
Yet sometimes, you'll get...
Q: AITA? My aunt started chasing me with hedge trimmers.
A: YTA. You're a malignant narcissist.
And of course, half the stories are probably fake.
AITA for robbing a Build-a-Bear during an orphan's birthday party?
I mean.
Tumblr has similar flavoring when it comes to people having very disproportionate responses. There's a lot of "how dare you say we piss on the poor". Then there's weird fandom drama, and my sense is that I've only seen the milder weird fandom drama, so I can only imagine what the rest of it is like.
That said, I've been Very Online for a very long time. Most spaces have things like what I mentioned above. Overreactions, gatekeeping, really bad advice, fandom drama. (fandom_wank existed for a reason.)
Moreover, I've found community for things that I'm interested in. I've seen people actually get a lot of support. Cliche though this advice is, you really do need to curate your experience. I stepped away from a fandom I felt was becoming too toxic. I stopped reading the relationship advice and AITA subreddits, although I do like BestofRedditorUpdates.
And I like that where tumblr is concerned, it reminds me a lot of old school LJ. Probably because a large portion of the populace are former LJers. I mean sure, that's also why the drama can be beyond, but it's also very quirky and fun and SLIGHTLY CHAOTIC.
So yeah. Reddit and tumblr are definitely imperfect. Lots of pissing on the poor to be had. But curating my experience has helped a lot.
Reading, Listening, Watching
Jan. 7th, 2026 03:12 pmpurplecatReading: I just finished the Doctor Who Reader. The later essays were a lot more accessible, but more by the way of personal accounts and more in the mode of fan writing than the earlier chapters. They feel more like things that could be/would be/are intended to be primary sources collated together for future academics than secondary sources. The whole is interesting and, hopefully, useful. I get quoted in one chapter though my identity is obfuscated as I was one of the interviewees.
Listening: Not much running this week, I do not like slippery surfaces for running, so not much listening. Currently I have Toby Hadoke in Indefinable Magic musing on the various actors in Doctor Who have been awarded M/O/CBEs or knighthoods etc. Toby is always entertaining but, it has to be said, this is not a subject that particularly grabs me.
Watching: B and I are currently feeling very listless about the vast choice of watching material available. We spend much time scrolling aimlessly through the listings. We started The Acolyte but found it too grim. We've discussed watching Midsomer Murders which seem like our kind of easy evening watching, but these start at season 22 on Disney so we will clearly need to investigate where earlier seasons can be found. We keep falling back on watching NCIS and miscellaneous food programmes on the BBC.
Listening: Not much running this week, I do not like slippery surfaces for running, so not much listening. Currently I have Toby Hadoke in Indefinable Magic musing on the various actors in Doctor Who have been awarded M/O/CBEs or knighthoods etc. Toby is always entertaining but, it has to be said, this is not a subject that particularly grabs me.
Watching: B and I are currently feeling very listless about the vast choice of watching material available. We spend much time scrolling aimlessly through the listings. We started The Acolyte but found it too grim. We've discussed watching Midsomer Murders which seem like our kind of easy evening watching, but these start at season 22 on Disney so we will clearly need to investigate where earlier seasons can be found. We keep falling back on watching NCIS and miscellaneous food programmes on the BBC.
Hard Things
Jan. 7th, 2026 12:02 amysabetwordsmithLife is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.
What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your hard things a little easier?
What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your hard things a little easier?
History
Jan. 6th, 2026 11:57 pmysabetwordsmithRecreating an Ancient Pump (with no moving parts)
This historic pump uses a mixture of flowing water and air bubbles to lift water high above its original level. While not as efficient as some other methods, it has two tremendous advantages: 1) It requires no electricity, fuel, or animal power. 2) With no moving parts, it avoids the problems of wear and clogs that threaten more complex pumps. Given the increasing issue of climate change, there is great value in any useful technology that runs entirely on renewable energy and doesn't need repair or replacement at all often.
This historic pump uses a mixture of flowing water and air bubbles to lift water high above its original level. While not as efficient as some other methods, it has two tremendous advantages: 1) It requires no electricity, fuel, or animal power. 2) With no moving parts, it avoids the problems of wear and clogs that threaten more complex pumps. Given the increasing issue of climate change, there is great value in any useful technology that runs entirely on renewable energy and doesn't need repair or replacement at all often.
Poem: "Done to Perfection"
Jan. 6th, 2026 08:24 pmysabetwordsmithThis poem is from today's fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by fuzzyred. It belongs to the Pain's Gray thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.
"Done to Perfection"
-- a cinquain
Pain's Gray
bakes French pastries --
beignets and petits fours,
choux à la crème and tartes des Alpes --
exquis.
* * *
Notes:
Read about the cinquain form.
French pastries include beignets, choux à la crème, petits fours, and tartes des Alpes.
exquis
French: delightful, delicious
fuzzyred. It belongs to the Pain's Gray thread of the Polychrome Heroics series."Done to Perfection"
-- a cinquain
Pain's Gray
bakes French pastries --
beignets and petits fours,
choux à la crème and tartes des Alpes --
exquis.
* * *
Notes:
Read about the cinquain form.
French pastries include beignets, choux à la crème, petits fours, and tartes des Alpes.
exquis
French: delightful, delicious
Poem: "Beneath the Sea"
Jan. 6th, 2026 08:05 pmysabetwordsmithThis poem is from today's Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "Seas Beneath" square in my 1-6-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by fuzzyred. It belongs to the Kraken and Mercedes threads of the Polychrome Heroics series.
"Beneath the Sea"
-- a hexaduad
Jules reads
job feeds.
Come work beneath the sea!
Stock Cans; room and board free.
He knows it's good work and good pay,
but should he go or should he stay?
Tides rise and fall,
feelings, sea call.
Beach, a liminal place;
teen, in similar space.
Jules scans the shore,
texts, Tell me more.
* * *
Notes:
Read about the hexaduad form.
dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "Seas Beneath" square in my 1-6-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by fuzzyred. It belongs to the Kraken and Mercedes threads of the Polychrome Heroics series."Beneath the Sea"
-- a hexaduad
Jules reads
job feeds.
Come work beneath the sea!
Stock Cans; room and board free.
He knows it's good work and good pay,
but should he go or should he stay?
Tides rise and fall,
feelings, sea call.
Beach, a liminal place;
teen, in similar space.
Jules scans the shore,
texts, Tell me more.
* * *
Notes:
Read about the hexaduad form.
Science
Jan. 6th, 2026 04:26 pmysabetwordsmithNearly all women in STEM secretly feel like impostors
A striking 97.5% of women pursuing graduate degrees in STEM report moderate or higher levels of impostorism.
Nearly all women in STEM graduate programs report feeling like impostors, despite strong evidence of success. This mindset leads many to dismiss their achievements as luck and fear being “found out.” Research links impostorism to worse mental health, higher burnout, and increased thoughts of dropping out. Supportive environments and shifting beliefs about intelligence may help break the cycle.
That's probably because 97.5% of their male coworkers are misogynistic assholes, and so are a lot of people even outside of STEM.
After decades of being told that girls are bad at math, go play with dolls, harassment as soon as their breasts start growing, male students being put in charge of groups, professors stealing their work, getting lower grades than they deserve, struggling to find a job, their name being left off papers or awards, promotions going to less-qualified males, fighting for funds ... of course women realize that they are aren't wanted, aren't welcome, and nobody likes them.
The last 2.5% of women in STEM? They don't give a shit if people like them, and they aren't there to stroke anyone's ego or penis. Shut up and work. Impostor syndrome? It can be beaten to death with facts.
A striking 97.5% of women pursuing graduate degrees in STEM report moderate or higher levels of impostorism.
Nearly all women in STEM graduate programs report feeling like impostors, despite strong evidence of success. This mindset leads many to dismiss their achievements as luck and fear being “found out.” Research links impostorism to worse mental health, higher burnout, and increased thoughts of dropping out. Supportive environments and shifting beliefs about intelligence may help break the cycle.
That's probably because 97.5% of their male coworkers are misogynistic assholes, and so are a lot of people even outside of STEM.
After decades of being told that girls are bad at math, go play with dolls, harassment as soon as their breasts start growing, male students being put in charge of groups, professors stealing their work, getting lower grades than they deserve, struggling to find a job, their name being left off papers or awards, promotions going to less-qualified males, fighting for funds ... of course women realize that they are aren't wanted, aren't welcome, and nobody likes them.
The last 2.5% of women in STEM? They don't give a shit if people like them, and they aren't there to stroke anyone's ego or penis. Shut up and work. Impostor syndrome? It can be beaten to death with facts.
Birdfeeding
Jan. 6th, 2026 03:23 pmysabetwordsmithToday is partly cloudy and cool.
I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 1/6/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 1/6/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
EDIT 1/6/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.
I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 1/6/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 1/6/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
EDIT 1/6/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.
Haiku
Jan. 6th, 2026 02:07 pmysabetwordsmithThis is today's freebie, inspired by a prompt from jake67jake.
Maduro kidnapped --
he was quite unpopular,
but it was still wrong
* * *
Notes:
Read a discussion of Venezuela politics.
jake67jake. Maduro kidnapped --
he was quite unpopular,
but it was still wrong
* * *
Notes:
Read a discussion of Venezuela politics.
Poetry Fishbowl Open!
Jan. 6th, 2026 01:11 pmysabetwordsmithThe Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED. Thank you all for your time and attention.
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "short forms." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.
I'll be soliciting poetic forms of 60 lines or less, so basically below my epic range rather than only the short-short length of 10 lines or less. Free verse below the length limit is also fine. Here are 15 short forms with descriptions. Among my favorite short forms not listed there: hexaduad, indriso, sestina, villanelle. This list of 168 forms is alphabetical. Poets Garrett has my favorite list of forms, including a list of repeating-interlocking forms. Their main page has links to poetic forms of 3-10 lines. Plus a few of my own: A darrow poem is a short, haiku-like musing by dark elves. A khazal is a Whispering Sands desert poem in couplets. A moose track is a repeating-interlocking form. A tweet wire is a tiny 10-line poem designed for Twitter. Some short forms, like haiku and tanka, work well as verses in a longer poem. I have The New Book of Forms by Lewis Turco so most forms should be in there. You can also prompt with a link to any exotic form you find; I collect these things.
In addition to forms, I also need topical prompts. One-word or short-phrase framing will assist in keeping them small enough to fit within the theme. Here is a huge list of common themes. This page of idioms has alphabetical and topical listings. I love writing poems about an individual word; see The Phrontistery (WARNING! Black hole caliber time sink ahead!) for glossaries. Have an orientation that is not well represented in literature? Ask for a sexual, romantic, or other orientation! If it's not on any of my lists, just include a description or link to one. I also list gender identities and my characters with disabilities. Want to help me play with my bookshelf? :D I have The Conflict Thesaurus, The Conflict Thesaurus Volume 2, The Occupation Thesaurus, The Emotional Wound Thesaurus, The Urban Setting Thesaurus, The Rural Setting Thesaurus, The Emotion Thesaurus, The Positive Trait Thesaurus, The Negative Trait Thesaurus, and The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus. Simply click "Read Sample" and view the table of contents for a list of cool ideas. You can prompt a sestina with six end words; I usually pick 5 short flexible words and one long exotic word, but I'll work with whatever I get. Favorite characters, threads, series, settings, etc. are also fair game but this is NOT the time for long plotty prompts. Consider combining a name or title with a short form, theme, or idiom. If you like to prompt with photos, this is a great opportunity for that. Just type in a topic (see above for possibilities) and click the Image link in your favorite search engine.
( Read more... )
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "short forms." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.
I'll be soliciting poetic forms of 60 lines or less, so basically below my epic range rather than only the short-short length of 10 lines or less. Free verse below the length limit is also fine. Here are 15 short forms with descriptions. Among my favorite short forms not listed there: hexaduad, indriso, sestina, villanelle. This list of 168 forms is alphabetical. Poets Garrett has my favorite list of forms, including a list of repeating-interlocking forms. Their main page has links to poetic forms of 3-10 lines. Plus a few of my own: A darrow poem is a short, haiku-like musing by dark elves. A khazal is a Whispering Sands desert poem in couplets. A moose track is a repeating-interlocking form. A tweet wire is a tiny 10-line poem designed for Twitter. Some short forms, like haiku and tanka, work well as verses in a longer poem. I have The New Book of Forms by Lewis Turco so most forms should be in there. You can also prompt with a link to any exotic form you find; I collect these things.
In addition to forms, I also need topical prompts. One-word or short-phrase framing will assist in keeping them small enough to fit within the theme. Here is a huge list of common themes. This page of idioms has alphabetical and topical listings. I love writing poems about an individual word; see The Phrontistery (WARNING! Black hole caliber time sink ahead!) for glossaries. Have an orientation that is not well represented in literature? Ask for a sexual, romantic, or other orientation! If it's not on any of my lists, just include a description or link to one. I also list gender identities and my characters with disabilities. Want to help me play with my bookshelf? :D I have The Conflict Thesaurus, The Conflict Thesaurus Volume 2, The Occupation Thesaurus, The Emotional Wound Thesaurus, The Urban Setting Thesaurus, The Rural Setting Thesaurus, The Emotion Thesaurus, The Positive Trait Thesaurus, The Negative Trait Thesaurus, and The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus. Simply click "Read Sample" and view the table of contents for a list of cool ideas. You can prompt a sestina with six end words; I usually pick 5 short flexible words and one long exotic word, but I'll work with whatever I get. Favorite characters, threads, series, settings, etc. are also fair game but this is NOT the time for long plotty prompts. Consider combining a name or title with a short form, theme, or idiom. If you like to prompt with photos, this is a great opportunity for that. Just type in a topic (see above for possibilities) and click the Image link in your favorite search engine.
( Read more... )
