What is the opposite of a gun?

A Blank Verse Film, highlighting this wonderful piece by Brendan Constantine and inspired by a lot of small children and Emilie Dickensen.

I was reading the Faerie Queen today and came across these lines, which cracked me up. I have a BA in English Literature, so I assure you my translation is legit.

The Faerie Queen was published by Edmund Spenser in 1590 for Queen Elizabeth I.

Eeeee! I’m getting ANTHOLOGIZED!

I started writing a LONG time ago, but I started publishing about five years, during my first few months at Southern New Hampshire University. One of the first poems I ever published, a sonnet called “Ode to Apollo” is now included in this groovy anthology.

It is so flattering that people wanted to include my little poem, and it is so amazing to realize how far I’ve come. I wrote that poem for writing club my sophomore year of high school. It was the best I’d ever been paid for my writing, too, when I sold it.

If anyone wants “to be a writer” (especially if you have a hard time finishing/polishing novels) GO WRITE AND PUBLISH POETRY/SHORT STORIES. It is so much easier than getting a book deal and its basically the writing equivalent of an internship. Go learn the ropes. You’ll love it.

FLOWERS

Oh my flowers weathered! Oh my flowers, dead? Their yellow turned to ancient gold Their petals curling, inward fold.

With brittle stalks that crack, They bend their blossoms back Toward the ground from whence they came; Entropy’s most beautiful claim.

I wish that you had not Upon arriving brought Flowers; I least needed color As you were walking through the door.

I’d rather you’d waited Til our time was sated— Given them now as you depart To keep your memory in my heart.

HAPPY WORLD POETRY DAY EVERYONE.

From his short essay, "Writing off the Subject,"Just read it for class, highly recommend it. Such a playful vibe. http://ualr.edu/rmburns/rb/hugosubj.html

Whimsically Frustrated with the Beauty Standard

I was thinking, as I got out of the shower the other day, how strange it is that feminine beauty standard is so utterly hairless. I don't bother with shaving personally, but it's taken me a long time to get totally comfortable with the fact that I have hair EVERYWHERE. We should have a picture book for this, to visually adjust people to the fact that women actually do have hair, and present this fact in a simple, whimsical context:

I HAVE HAIR THERE

Everyone knows that hair grows on your head

Every girl’s different: blonde, black, brown, or red

But your hair grows in other places too,

Places the media doesn’t mention to you.

  From our ankles on up, our legs grow hair

On our calves and our thighs, it’s everywhere,

You can try to shave it, but it will persist

It’s on our arms, from shoulder to wrist

  It grows in clumps under each human arm

Even for girls! It’s not cause for alarm.

Maybe you think it diminishes charm

But it’s only hair; it does no harm

  You might think this isn’t feminine

But every girl’s like this, so think again.

Some girls have more while other girls have less

But nobody’s born totally hairless.

  Does it seem strange to have hairs in your nose?

What about a few stray hairs on your toes?

Growing on your belly, breasts, and bottom?

Hairs grow all over…you bet we’ve got them!

  I share more DNA with a chimpanzee

Than any photo-shopped celebrity

So why should a little hair bother me

When I’m basically a hairless monkey?

  A line of hair can run down from our navel

And sometimes moles sprout little hairs as well

A little peach fuzz ends up on our face

And even lip hair isn’t out of place!

  Whether I shave or not, my body’s fine

Nothing’s wrong with this natural design

And if you think my hair is out of line

That is your problem, definitely not mine!

From Incidental Comics. Put me in the Iambic Pentagon and I will be a happy camper.

In case you missed it, the link to my official website.