“An “angel” is anything that carries out a mission for God. This includes forces of nature. […] Photosynthesis? That’s an angel. Gravity? An angel. Magnetism? Angel. The Midrash in Bereishis Rabbah (chapter 1) says than an angel only performs one job. That job doesn’t have to be destroying Sodom; it could be peristalsis, centripetal force or condensation.”

— Rabbi Jack Abramowitz, Angels (via torat-chesed-al-lashona)

when jenny slate said “I realize I want to hear my voice and only mine. Not the voice of my voice within a cacophony of old pains. Just mine, now.” and when toni morrison said “I want to feel what I feel. What’s mine. Even if it’s not happiness, whatever that means. Because you’re all you’ve got.” and when mary oliver said

oh god I had a really big epiphany about love and personhood but I'm too drunk for words. hold on I'm gonna paint it.

the mary oliver voice in my head every day: mostly i want to be kind! mostly i want to be kind! mostly i want to be kind!

In these bruising days, any delicately made thing quickens the heart.

— Teju Cole, from “We Can’t Comprehend This Much Sorrow”

july in appalachia by keaton st. james

(patreon)

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Marya Hornbacher, Waiting

my fav conspiracy theory is that everything will turn out ok eventually

Nancy Spero. Artemis, Goddess and Centaur, 1983.

hand-printing on paper

“Love is holy because it is like grace — the worthiness of its object is never really what matters.”

— Marilynne Robinson, from Gilead

well maybe the power of love would fix things did you guys think of that? if not we could try biting

“So come here. Let me love those bruises out of you. We’ll love like children with a box of bandages- we won’t ask where it hurts. We’ll just kiss all of it.”

— Ashe Vernon, from “Robin’s egg heart(break)” (via drearydoll)

vulnerability is clumsy but it’s the only thing worth anything

On Being Podcast: Ocean Vuong- A Life Worthy of our Breath

“—here you were: to be loved. To be loved, baby, hard, at once, and for ever, to strengthen you against the loveless world.”

— James Baldwin,  “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to my nephew on the one hundredth anniversary of the emancipation”, in The Fire Next Time

“The Age of Gold”, photographed by Charlotte Hadden for MENE Jewelry.

“Already its August— Season of snipers in the heartland […] It’s a miracle we were able, ever / To put one foot in front of the other and keep on walking”

— Meena Alexander, from ‘Atmospheric Embroidery’