clouded leopards born on leap day

(image from Graeme Base, Legend of the Golden Snail)

Pavane for a Dead Princess. (via Gerald Blow on Fb)

Dream of places with the power to change us; unlike this one.

Out into the Desert.

"Arthur Horvat, author of Japanese Beyond Words, provides some further fascinating insights into the cultural gaps: 'Last week, I came across a Japanese book devoted to the history of just ten expressions: shakai--(society), kojin--(individual), kindai--(modern), bi--(beauty), ren'ai--(romantic love), sonzai--(existence), shizen--(nature), kenri--(rights), jiyu--(freedom), and kare/kanojo--(he/she). Every one of these expressions, all borrowings from European languages, took decades to find Japanese equivalents. Suddenly I understood why the nineteenth-century educator, Yukichi Fukuzawa, who helped translate into Japanese the first two words from the above list, made it onto the ¥10,000 bill.' " --Christopher J Moore, In Other Words (2004)

"It turns out we let our electoral process devolve into something so fake and dysfunctional that any half-bright con man with the stones to try it could walk right through the front door and tear it to shreds on the first go."

"...the uncertain times that many call Spring." --The Vorrh

On Izmodido.

Psycho is the new black.

New Mieville.

The poet--an eagle who takes down drones.

Necro Karaoke reaches new heights.

We've gone from Bond supervillains, like Osama bin Laden & Kim Jong Il, to Batman supervillains, like Donald Trump & Ted Cruz. It's not about anything so old fashioned as evil anymore. we've entered the realm of chaos magick.

(pic by Chen Shen Pingt)

"THE ALMANAC OF LAST THINGS

From the almanac of last things
I choose the spider lily
for the grace of its brief
blossom, though I myself
fear brevity,

but I choose The Song of Songs
because the flesh
of those pomegranates
has survived
all the frost of dogma.

I choose January with its chill
lessons of patience and despair - and
August, too sun-struck for lessons.
I choose a thimbleful of red wine
to make my heart race,

then another to help me
sleep. From the almanac
of last things I choose you,
as I have done before.
And I choose evening

because the light clinging
to the window
is at its most reflective
just as it is ready
to go out."

-Linda Pastan, Carnival Evening (via whiskey river)

(via)