Lit Lover: May 2026

Saturday, May 02, 2026

Man at a street fair moment.

There's two little kids in a jousting ring; they're like maybe seven or eight years old. One's a boy and one's a girl and this middle-aged man came up next to me and said, That's right. Beat her ass!

And I looked behind me and I said, Jesus.

And he heard me and he came up to me and he put his hand very familiarly on my shoulder.

And he said it's all right. It's because that's like me and my sister, and she beat my ass. So it's like revenge.

Familiar hand on the shoulder beat her ass guy not pictured!

What about combining these two? 🎵

Grouper - "I'm Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=LedYZFvbDTM&si=A57rSeo8WwvFWlDE

Kate Bush - "Running Up That Hill"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=wp43OdtAAkM&si=4WEVQGHAlOcO-F8g

"You're just a number to them."

Isn't that harsh? I'm getting flashbacks to my summer of working in a warehouse when I was in college now.

"A Pregnant Amazon Employee Asked for a Chair to Sit..."

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/10/pregnant-amazon-warehouse-workers-accommodations-eeoc-trump/

Anyways, this seems like a softer and gentler thing to read.

"Amazon Powers ICE. Its Workers Aren’t Happy." – Mother Jones

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/amazon-powers-ice-its-workers-arent-happy/

Just expand your love for different portions of humanity a teensy bit.

Angry girls from orphanages who got knocked up by cads. Angry people with PTSD about rape culture. These are real human beings walking the Earth right now. I don't know why it's so much easier for some people to be willing to accept those kinds of people than others.

Kind of want to listen to this in between song?

Nirvana - "About A Girl (MTV Unplugged)"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=AhcttcXcRYY&si=5Wb3XCgq06DmjkuF

It's not one of Kurt Cobain's most blatantly anti-rape songs. It's not really anti-rape, actually. Because it's not about rape. But it's something...

And other people have that as well, but it's not been brought on stage as much, yet.

I probably have complex PTSD, and lots of anger about various harmful and traumatizing fraternity shenanigans.

That's just another square on the Rubik's cube.

The lordly, the lowly, and the grand traditions you feel the need to follow. Because it's been normalized. It's not normal. Sorry, but you've gotten accustomed to things that are not normal. Because you're accustomed to the unwell ways of the patriarchal society. You're not even doing yourself as much good as you could be, in my opinion. However, I don't feel like mothering grown men today at the expense of others. There's plenty of other women doing that right now. But there's also women who aren't doing that, and I prefer to see what they are up to right now.

Check your vibes!

I'm older and feeling slightly more comfortable with my feelings; I will say that my face hurt. All night and a great part of the morning too. Having to be a huge jerk to others in order to maintain equilibrium must be very painful aspect of being conscripted into the dying Patriarchal Experiment.

And I wonder if they will ever put her on display?

"Portrait of Isabella Clara Eugenia, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, as a Poor Clare" » Norton Simon Museum

https://www.nortonsimon.org/art/viewer/M.1966.10.10.P

"The Return of the Sovereign: Isabella Clara Eugenia's Journey To The Netherlands"

https://open.substack.com/pub/feministhistories/p/the-return-of-the-sovereign-isabella?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1oj2u

Someone should make a film about Leonora.

New Muses Project - "Leonora d'Este"

https://www.newmusesproject.com/leonora_deste

Oh that must have been nice 🎶 for her.

Learned about Leonara d'Este on page 218 of

"Witches: The Transformative Power of Women Working Together"

Sam George-Allen

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49974634-witches

Oh that was quite something!

A dad makes a dramatic gesture towards Planned Parenthood in this poem.

"Regarding Silphium..." in "Rue" by Kathryn Nuernberger

https://rhinopoetry.org/reviews/rue-by-kathryn-nuernberger-reviewed-by-francess-dunbar

Thoughts of botanical paintings....

"The Secretly Radical Revolution of Flowers: A Review of Kathryn Nuernberger’s ‘Rue’" – The Adroit Journal

https://theadroitjournal.org/2020/05/28/the-secretly-radical-revolution-of-flowers-a-review-of-kathryn-nuernbergers-rue/

"The Bird of Paradise" page 51.

Anyways, I guess cross dressing farmers in Missouri were babies once.

Omg, why does the font look different even though it's the same. It's because of the lighting.

Have you ever met a Midwestern farmer who's a crossdresser. I don't think I have met one.

"I Want To Know You All" by Kathryn Nuernberger on page 38 of Rue.

Rue – Kathryn Nuernberger | Full Stop

https://www.full-stop.net/2020/09/07/reviews/alicia-wright/rue-kathryn-nuernberger/

The Day!

So anyway, the poem I just read about the crow having too much fight to live makes me think that a lot of this fluff talk that circulates about mothers day is something that makes the patriarchal people happy and anesthetized to real life.

"Better View of the Moon: Poem366: 'Rue'” by Kathryn Nuernberger

http://betterviewofthemoon.blogspot.com/2020/01/poem366-rue-by-kathryn-nuernberger.html?m=1

Great! Poem!

"Wallace Stevens: “The Emperor of Ice-Cream” | The Poetry Foundation

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/70138/wallace-stevens-the-emperor-of-ice-cream

All toes point to heaven!

Unintentionally matched socks and shirt. Weird times...

And I read a poem called "A Great Place to Raise Children" after reading "Queen of Barren, Queen of Mean, Queen of Laced with Ire."

And then "This is Your Mother Calling."

Book opened to these lines like I was meant to read them.

"If you only knew how many times I've heard, 'Our Lord is a jealous lover.'

But he is also Rousseau who dumped his bastard children in an orphanage. Rousseau who had no care for what the social contract did to the women he took as lovers and then left as lovers. Rousseau who goes on and on about breastfeeding and natural motherhood like a man who has no idea."

Page 58 of "Rue" by Kathryn Nuernberger

"Review: Rue by Kathryn Nuernberger" - The Los Angeles Review The Los Angeles Review

https://losangelesreview.org/review-rue-by-kathryn-nuernberger/

I gotta go to the library and get her book again.

The one with the different edited versions all collected together.

"The Translation of Anne Frank"

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2421391.html

I wonder if Anne Frank's dad added the line about the girls and women getting pregnant?

Maybe he did. Maybe it horrified him. Maybe he was freaked out and frightened that something like that could happen to his daughters. (Although if he added the line to her text, his daughters would have already been dead, but still.)

"The Translation of Anne Frank"

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2421391.html

Take off the weight...

Worry about one girl child in the orphanage at breakfast, one boy child in a detention center at lunch, and then serve sensible a dinner to the head of the household! Thanks to him, you have access to a great line of credit.

Gorilla needs banana!

"i'll never get over how..."

amandapourlesintimes

https://www.threads.com/@amandapourlesintimes/post/DX1srM8kbZ-?xmt=AQF0gOWRV3Ev783bOM9X97Oy0gSBvt_TKjpGJDvgdWq2lM8mErceDHzl1D1m_Hl7_k4c3vTX&slof=1

This kind of speaks to the times when I don't want to treat grown men like they're my special favored children.

That behavior seemingly activates a certain very specific pleasure center in some people's heads. Like when I saw older women who were taught that they were supposed to put men and boys first get so much pleasure out of doing so. And then this "nice" to the boys and men kind of woman would suddenly show up with all this violence towards a girl child.

"i'll never get over how, in an era when women's rights and status are being attacked and eroded..."

amandapourlesintimes

https://www.threads.com/@amandapourlesintimes/post/DX1srM8kbZ-?xmt=AQF0gOWRV3Ev783bOM9X97Oy0gSBvt_TKjpGJDvgdWq2lM8mErceDHzl1D1m_Hl7_k4c3vTX&slof=1

We'll just wait for the little eagles on Earth to catch up.

Eagles are cute and brave. Yay! I'm so glad our higher selves are finally on the same page, in another dimension!

It's so much fun to listen to nostalgic music in the car sometimes!

Live - "Selling The Drama"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=VQJp135efOY&si=Hf3EqXHa9uw61rc9

But we'll get back to the empowering stuff pretty soon.

"Rapeable ancestors; rapeable siblings; rapeable me" equals "Finally on their way to healing more, and sooner, in my opinion."

Just a spontaneous thought about another guy.

Kurt Cobain was kind of brave about calling out rape culture; before his time, really.

You know who'd make you feel less rich.

You know you feel like being abusive towards, because you don't want to heal and you're too busy chasing accolades.

So difficult!

"Can we finally admit that rape culture exists?" - Salon.com

https://www.salon.com/2026/04/22/can-we-finally-admit-that-rape-culture-exists/

"The use of the phrase “rape culture” was, it turned out, what was required to make mainstream media outlets see that its history of sympathizing with young male perpetrators with bright futures was no longer acceptable."

Andi Zeisler

I suppose I probably was a hurt and insecure boy in a former life.

I feel bad for hurt and insecure boys, but then they just keep taking and taking. They take all the money. They take all the land. They take all the health care. They take all the attention. They become CEOs. They take charge of the governments. They just take and take and take. They're a very exhausting brand of human to be around, and it's a lot better to be around other human beings besides them sometimes. That's just how it is.

And now this is about mothers and daughters. But also. Fathers and sons.

"Part 1.2: I debated..."

thesteministwitch

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXWxuYdDLh9/?igsh=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

This is about a bunch of dads.

For all you know, your dads could be baby girls right now. Or boys who are going to do better.

Why don't you tell him to take a hike? He's not here anymore. Actually, if he is still here, he could go on a hike, and maybe it'll be good for him.

Now your heart is acknowledged.

"A study released April 30..."

thesteministwitch

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DX0LpuWswBd/?igsh=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

The animal queendom

The Kiffness - "Serafino (Singing Cat Song)"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=YYA1zwRP9z8&si=m2n3zOpWaJr-oKTn

Sometimes people survive their strange encounters.

Grimes - "Oblivion"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=JtH68PJIQLE&si=W6KsS1o44h8aeiYa

It's good that the Earth keeps rotating, and that seasons keep seasoning.

I don't understand why things get better as things get worse, but anyways.

Oh my gosh, I laughed at a part of this.

"I know this isn’t true for every Gen X woman, but my cultural tastes were formed at a time when cultural tastes were male tastes — not always as a result of deliberate sexism, just the standard operating procedure of a time when men were both the decision-makers and the target audience for most things. Norms and narratives were set largely according to what men wanted to see and hear and experience; for kids, in particular, the most visible, aspirational girls were male-identified tomboys.

Again, this isn’t true across the board, obviously, but in the ’70s and early ’80s, a lot of girls experienced the transition from girlhood to womanhood as a loss of status they didn’t have the language to understand. I’m reminded that in 5th grade, after a single hour of sex education during which the boys went to the gym and the girls stayed in class, we were given a send-away coupon for a menstrual-product starter pack whose accompanying pamphlet bore a title that, in retrospect, sounds like a threat: 'Growing Up and Liking It.'”

"How I gave in to Tori Amos’ divine feminine

'In Times of Dragons' is a confrontation with America — and a reckoning with my own learned misogyny"

By Andi Zeisler

https://www.salon.com/2026/05/02/how-i-gave-in-to-tori-amos-divine-feminine/

Reckoning with her own learned misogyny!

That's what she says in the subhead.

"Despite being a ’90s woman and a feminist and a former music writer and the owner of more than one deck of Tarot cards, I knew next to nothing about Amos. It’s not on purpose; it’s also not thoroughly not on purpose.

Amos’ voice shimmers and twinkles and slides, unhinged but in a meticulous kind of way. Most of all, it is deeply, terrifyingly feminine: expressive, operatic, mercurial. It takes up space. It saturates.

Its arpeggios and shrieks and growls are resonant, and shortly after that, repellent. It is somehow incredibly self-assured and nakedly vulnerable. I suddenly understand why Tori Amos wasn’t on my radar: she couldn’t be. I text Theo: 'Can someone just be too emotionally unavailable for Tori Amos?' following up with a second text that should have read 'too many feelings' but instead comes out as 'too feelings.' Eventually, she replies with a winky-face emoji."

"How I gave in to Tori Amos’ divine feminine

'In Times of Dragons' is a confrontation with America — and a reckoning with my own learned misogyny"

By Andi Zeisler

https://www.salon.com/2026/05/02/how-i-gave-in-to-tori-amos-divine-feminine/

Don't be shallow.

Going out salsa dancing was fun. But what did you really need?

Trustworthiness and integrity was what you needed more than salsa dancing, huh?

Yep.

Universe decided I needed a humorous video to watch now.

Along with my rather strange breakfast of black beans in mole and a tortilla. It's good though.

"That's one wat to pick up chicks!"

https://www.reddit.com/r/funnyvideos/s/2UaZvgxaL5

People who have experienced accolades expect more accolades: it's a lifelong lesson to remember.

We should probably have more ceremonies to honor the people who are the last of doing whatever's been done, because, you know, it is time for some new stuff to start happening now.

O gezellig, I found this again.

I was super into reading stuff like this last summer:

"The Translation of Anne Frank"

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2421391.html

"Men, women and children all sleep together. One hears of frightful immorality because of this; and a lot of the women, and even girls, who stay there any length of time are expecting babies."

In the less censored version, which I read later in life, she also talks about what happened to some girls...

"Anne Frank Quote Goes Viral After ICE Raids"

https://people.com/politics/anne-frank-diary-quote-twitter-mississippi-immigration-raids/

Might be in a different section of the diary though?

ICE is such an extension of patriarchical suffering and oppression.

"BRILLIANT: An immigrant woman shows exactly how to shut down ICE agents"

Raw America

https://substack.com/@rawstory/note/c-245027230?r=1oj2u

Writing Prompt: Don't play Young and Dumb Benjamin Franklin.

And also, I hope any girls who are getting locked away in detention centers by ICE agents right now miraculously have access to good healthcare, lest they have an encounter with an unscrupulous, selfish man who got trained by his patriarchal society to be incredibly self-absorbed and shallow and mean.

Moreover, if some caddish guy who has been locked away in a detention center by ICE agents is tempted to use a girl and then abandon her in her time of need after his little momentary pick me up, just because apparently that's how the men in his family were trained to deal with their pain and suffering, I definitely hope some one tells him that being a huge jerk is not a very high level way to deal with the circumstances of his brutal and challenging life, and pray that perhaps such a soul finds Jesus.

Another square on the cube.

"Push you until you reap a more bountiful reward" mentality.

One square on a cube.

A person looks soft and soothing and caring and wants to tell you it will be okay, but it's actually an angel who is making them seem like that, and the angel is protecting you, until you can deal with the harsh reality of the person's more punitive intentions.

I think I love this lately...

"Et Exultavit from Nicola Porpora Magnificat"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ntGO2tQl1h0&si=sDf1DOgZJ7s2AKaf

Maybe it will be possible to see these someday.

"How to Watch the Northern Lights Tonight and Over The Weekend"

https://people.com/how-to-watch-the-northern-lights-may-1-2026-11964050

Life is just a list of tasks.

If the universe just wanted me to be like "I'm in a bubble of love with a fine musical instrument from another century" than I suppose I would be, and I guess the universe is still requiring more tasks of me to tend to instead of being like that.

Friday, May 01, 2026

I found out the full moon's in Scorpio so that's pretty interesting, too.

This was pretty awesome to find out about a new singer and I hope we can acquire some of her songs, too.

"Start Listening To: Hannah Frances — Still Listening'

https://www.stilllisteningmagazine.com/start-listening-to/start-listening-to-hannah-frances

I also enjoyed songs by the other musician but then I started to feel too weird and I had to leave but I did stay until 11:00 so I listened to a lot. Also, I was having some health issues today so I need to take care of those. I made the effort to come out in spite of the health issues and I'm glad I did.

I just get the vibe that some people don't like overly "mouthy women" and stuff. You might consider that not all women can be the same kind of woman is all I can say, if you've got the they don't like the mouthy women vibe happening in your life.

Sigh!

Maybe it's just the full moon in Scorpio.