Gothic Garden Entomology Vintage Book Covers

What are your favorite Arabic poems, if you have any?

These are some of my favorites:

An Ocean Without Shore, Ibn ‘Arabi

Fragment from Al-Buhturi’s Wolf

From the Luzumiyat of al-Ma’arri

From the Diwan of al-Ma’arri

Reality, Rabia al-Basri

Love, Rabia al-Basri

The Enchanter of Dust: Psalm, Adonis

The Wound, Adonis

I Pray Behind My Shadow, Bahija Massri Adelbi

The Spirit Bows to the Will of Love, Munir Mezyed

The Manner of Sand, Mahmood al-Braikan

Exculpation, Khalil Mutran

Revolt Against the Sun, Nazik al-Mala’ika

Myths, Nazik al-Mala’ika

Who am I?, Nazik al-Mala’ika

A Stranger at the Gulf, Badr Shakir al-Sayyab

An Alphabetical Formation, Faraj Bayraqdar

A couple of fragments from Sanieh Salh

Sorrows of the Black City, Muhammad al-Fayturi

Shadows, Wadih Sa’adah

The Strange Grief, al-Shabbi

A Storm in the Dark, al-Shabbi

A Body, Al-Saddiq al-Raddi

Annihilation, Muhammad Afifi Matar

Fragments from ‘Quartet of Joy’, Muhammad Affifi Matar

Mural, Mahmoud Darwish

We Will Choose Sophocles, Mahmoud Darwish 

Clouds, Ounsi el-Hajj

Smoke Bloom, Nadia Anjuman

Boat to Lesbos, Nourri al-Jarrah

Your body is my map, Nizar Qabbani

The Assyrian Mastiff, 6th Century BC. (The era of the neo-Assyrian Empire)

This dog was often used as a livestock guardian against predators and they were bred by the Assyrians.

British Museum

Quotes: 1.) Louise Glück, From Averno; “Blue Rotunda” 2.) Ocean Vuong, from On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous 3.) Clarice Lispector, from Selected Crônicas; “Excess and Privation ,” 4.) Rachel Cusk, on the reception of Aftermath, as cited in Olivia Sudjic’s Exposure

Art: 1.) Daniel F. Gerhartz 2.) Adrian Ghenie, Henrik Uldalen 3.) Helene Delmaire, Glenn Brown 4.) Alexandra Levasseur

what if the priest didn’t really bless the water? what if he was just playing around? how do I know if I’m being sprayed with regular or holy water?

The Great Buddha, Kamakura, Hasui Kawase, 1930

endearments in letters to véra

El, Father of the Gods, and the King of Ugarit

Ugarit, Syria

13th century BCE

Top: Image from cover of "Stories from Ancient Canaan" by Michael David Coogan, 1978

Bottom: Ancient Near Eastern Pictures Relating to the Old Testament

James Pritchard, 1969

Greek Gods as Things I’ve Overheard in My School

I got a request for Greek Gods as things I’ve overheard, and since school is- quite possibly the best place for these things, I figured why not!

Zeus: “Bold of you to assume that I can’t be more of an asshole.” Poseidon: “People never drink water in class. Drink water throughout class. Drink water instead of class. Don’t go to class.” Hades: “My math grade is almost lower than my will to live.” Hestia: “Sometimes I just want to sit in that fire pit and roast marshmallows as I let the ashes reclaim me.” Demeter: “They said we need more plants around. Replace me with a plant.” Hera: “I need feminism because clearly my future husband is going to be a dumbass and I want to prove I’m better.” Athena: “I like the smell of old books.” *proceeds to stuff face into textbook* Hermes: “I can steal your heart, yes- but can I steal myself a personality?” Apollo: “Music class these days is just idiots trying to find happiness.” Artemis: “I just want to be gay with an instinct to kill.” Hephaestus: “I want to build myself a girlfriend.” Aphrodite: “Maybe one day people will appreciate my inner beauty and not my numerous pimples.” Dionysus: “Time to get DRUNK!” *chugs water bottle* Persephone: “I love flower crowns. They make me want to-” *cracks knuckles* “Kick ass.”

Figurine of a Persian man 500-300 BCE

"The Persian nation contains a number of tribes as listed here. ... : the Pasargadae, Maraphii, and Maspii, upon which all the other tribes are dependent. Of these, the Pasargadae are the most distinguished; they contain the clan of the Achaemenids from which spring the Perseid kings. Other tribes are the Panthialaei, Derusiaei, Germanii, all of which are attached to the soil, the remainder—the Dai, Mardi, Dropici, Sagarti, being nomadic."

-Herodotus, The Histories, Book 1.101 & 125