inner person

am i this tiny, tinkering town? am i the books i’ve read? am i my ravenous lust, my unraveling greed? oil over nipple, a plate of collard greens?

am i the hand-print on the wall? am i the metal lining from the cloud that rains acid?

and it’s not just youth... or just you. You don’t grow out of it or into it. it’s like wearing a second skin and forget... See more

you’re exquisite, ready to fuck

The written word, and inherently art itself, is not meant to be accessible. You are supposed to work for it.

You’re meant to bleed onto the page. You’re meant to pull your hair out in frustration. You’re meant to lock your creativity in a drawer when it doesn’t work the way you want it to.

Art comes with doubt. Artists fail, and they learn from that... See more

you aren't an artist

i’m tired and

my window to the world

has no curtains

i want to close my eyes

quirine brouwer • all my friends and i talk about is getting rid of our phones

The world we live in revolves around our phones, and in turn, we revolve around our digital worlds. How are we expected to stay up to date with the world's happenings while simultaneously being present in our own reality? How are we supposed to know when we’ve hit our limit when the limit does not exist on the screen? The simple truth is you can’t, and there is little chance we ever will. The continuing development of all technology will continue to push this narrative of needing to be connected at all times. But we as humans were not programmed to go about our lives in this way. The way our society is progressing feels eerily like installing an update on your phone and immediately hating it, subsequently never being able to get rid of it, forcing us to normalize with it. Humanity has reached a point where we don’t know how to hit the backspace on these rabid digital developments, forcing us to come to terms with the truth that we will never live a life without technology again.

somewhere,

there is a version of me

who dared to take the leap

quirine brouwer • all my friends and i talk about is getting rid of our phones

We don’t give other people credit for the same interior complexity we take for granted in ourselves, the same capacity for holding contradictory feelings in balance, for complexly alloyed affections, for bottomless generosity of heart and petty, capricious malice. We can’t believe that anyone could be unkind to us and still be genuinely fond of us,... See more

Art doesn’t distract from truth. It expands it. It gives shape to the things logic can’t quite touch, the tenderness of memory, the ache of a goodbye, the eerie way a song can make you grieve something you’ve never even lost. It gives us metaphors when language fails. It says, Here. You’re not alone.

I Would’ve Poisoned Socrates Too

The delusion of individual control, explained through chaos theory

Brian Klaas bigthinkmedia.substack.com

There’s a version of you that no one has ever met.

Not your friends. Not your family. Not even your mirror .

Only silence knows them.

Only solitude has seen them naked, stripped of performance, perfection, and praise.

Who are you when no one is watching?

Amira • Who are you when no one is watching ?

The way people act when not being perceived is a truer representation of their character than any performance put on in the face of humanity. This is especially true when the change of audience causes a shift in performance and attitude. In today’s digital age, every act must be a productive step towards a greater project or a recorded moment for later praise. People are no longer kind and considerate because they desire to be kind and considerate, but rather because they are worried about how others will perceive them. Everything is a test of how great one can look while still maintaining the face of authenticity.

Ideas related to this collection