Poem A Day
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“To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”
The Courage to Be Yourself: E.E. Cummings on Art, Life, and Being Unafraid to Feel
“To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight.”
www.themarginalian.org
October 25, 2025 at 5:01 AM
“To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else — means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”
Reposted by Poem A Day
Ursula le Guin, on the accusation that fantasy is an escape from reality
![[“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape? The moneylenders, the know-nothings, the authoritarians have us all in prison; if we value the freedom of the mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can.”]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hppum4l25hcczzffastsicpq/bafkreihuubdwcftfkvvlnepoaf6pfxqulryfp7ydrydi5fe2pflwz63wgm@jpeg)
February 23, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Ursula le Guin, on the accusation that fantasy is an escape from reality
“The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,”
~from “Forgetfulness” by Billy Collin’s
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,”
~from “Forgetfulness” by Billy Collin’s
October 25, 2025 at 4:46 AM
“The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,”
~from “Forgetfulness” by Billy Collin’s
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,”
~from “Forgetfulness” by Billy Collin’s
Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.
~Dorothy Parker, Resume
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.
~Dorothy Parker, Resume
June 7, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.
~Dorothy Parker, Resume
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.
~Dorothy Parker, Resume
“For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there's something stronger, something better, pushing right back.”
~Albert Camus
~Albert Camus
February 16, 2025 at 10:39 PM
“For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there's something stronger, something better, pushing right back.”
~Albert Camus
~Albert Camus
“Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!”
~from If We Must Die by Claude McKay
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!”
~from If We Must Die by Claude McKay
February 6, 2025 at 5:01 PM
“Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!”
~from If We Must Die by Claude McKay
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!”
~from If We Must Die by Claude McKay
“I loved you in the morning
Our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow
Like a sleepy golden storm
Yes many loved before us
I know that we are not new.”
~Leonard Cohen
Our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow
Like a sleepy golden storm
Yes many loved before us
I know that we are not new.”
~Leonard Cohen
January 22, 2025 at 1:51 AM
“I loved you in the morning
Our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow
Like a sleepy golden storm
Yes many loved before us
I know that we are not new.”
~Leonard Cohen
Our kisses deep and warm
Your hair upon the pillow
Like a sleepy golden storm
Yes many loved before us
I know that we are not new.”
~Leonard Cohen
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
~from “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver
~from “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver
December 4, 2024 at 12:25 AM
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
~from “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver
~from “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
~Langston Hughes, “Dreams”
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
~Langston Hughes, “Dreams”
November 26, 2024 at 9:54 PM
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
~Langston Hughes, “Dreams”
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
~Langston Hughes, “Dreams”
“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.”
~Rilke
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.”
~Rilke
November 25, 2024 at 1:39 PM
“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.”
~Rilke
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don't let yourself lose me.”
~Rilke
“Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–over and over announcing your place in the family of things.”
~from “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver
~from “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver
November 21, 2024 at 5:04 PM
“Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–over and over announcing your place in the family of things.”
~from “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver
~from “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver
“With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.”
~from “Desiderata: Words for Life” by Max Enhrmann
it is still a beautiful world.”
~from “Desiderata: Words for Life” by Max Enhrmann
November 20, 2024 at 7:54 PM
“With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.”
~from “Desiderata: Words for Life” by Max Enhrmann
it is still a beautiful world.”
~from “Desiderata: Words for Life” by Max Enhrmann