Poetatwork - Poet At Work

“Understanding your past and embarking on a new future can be a bittersweet process. Shining a light on what happened to you and how it affected your choices can stir up sadness about what you’ve lost or never had. That’s the way light is. It shines on everything, not just the things we want to see. When you decide to uncover the truth about yourself and your family relationships, you may be surprised by what’s revealed, especially when you see how these patterns have been passed down through the generations. Sometimes you may wonder whether all this knowledge is for the best. It may even seem as though it would be better not to know.”

—

Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, Lindsay C. Gibson

I hope you believe that you can still make a beautiful life for yourself even if you lost many years of it to grief, or darkness, depression, or a wound that wouldn't close.

I think it needs to become common knowledge that "inability to read social cues" can show up as overcompensating.

You don't know how much misbehaviour is allowed, so you become the perfect child who never tests rules.

You don't know if someone is irritated with you, so you'll be extra generous and self-effacing.

You don't know how much is expected of you at work so you'll kill yourself in a minimum-wage job and not notice that nobody else is working like this.

"Hardworking and quiet" should be as much of an autism red flag as "ignores rules and doesn't know when to stop talking". Or why don't we just start using words to communicate so i can stop tracking everybody's eyebrow twitches, that would be great.

Romanticizing your life sounds so stupid but it will help you cope. Taking extra time to make a yummie coffee in the morning, sitting outide observing the wind in the trees, writing poems, going to old book stores, watching your childhood favourite movies, listening to romantic jazz, writing in a coffee shop, making sure you have moody lighting in your room, putting on asmr rooms as a background noise while you work. It's not a solution, but it makes things a bit better.

what your favorite William Morris print says about you (a non-exhaustive list)

strawberry thieves: you're a basic bitch and there's nothing wrong with that. those little fuckers are cute

tree of life: you think we all moved on from the whimsigoth trend way too soon

pimpernel: you're going to put an Alphonse Mucha print on top of this and you know it

voysey: you're a massive goth. you've probably watched Bram Stoker's Dracula a lot

blackthorn: you're a massive goth who doesn't like making things too hard on yourself

willow boughs: you say "timeless" "classic" and "modern twist" a lot when decorating your house

owl and willow: admit it- you really just want mid-19th century panoramic wallpaper

melsetter: admit it- you really just want 15th-century Gobelin tapestries

lodden: you genuinely believe, deep down, that you will decode the Voynich Manuscript someday

marigold: you enjoy versatility. you probably own the same shirt in four colors- and why shouldn't you?

balmoral: your ringtone is Rule, Brittania

I don't have a favorite Morris print because I prefer [insert another late 19th century textile/wallpaper designer here]: you are a hipster

I don't have a favorite Morris print because I don't know any: you have a social life

Victorian-Inspired Embroidered Puzzle Purse, 2023 (ink and cotton and silk embroidery on kona cotton)

The puzzle purse is a form of itogami, the origami of folded purses. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the puzzle purse became a popular form for love notes and Valentines because they could hold little trinkets (rings, miniatures, locks of hair) and did not require an envelope to seal. This one is reimagined in cloth: the embroidery is permanent, but the message can be ironed away and rewritten. A love that lasts because it can be changed and be made new.

wishing you a safe return back to yourself

i would describe myself as a “stay-at-home dragon”

https://www.thecut.com/2018/11/im-broke-and-friendless-and-ive-wasted-my-whole-life.html

Devin Kelly, “All That Wanting, Right?”