This is secret code used by 19th-century diarist Anne Lister to record her lesbian relationships! And underneath, and sample of her diaries. Anne wrote 6600 pages, or almost 4 million words of these diaries, giving us a treasure trove of information about her life, and one of the only first-hand accounts we have of female same-sex relationships in the 19th century.
Now you too can communicate with your friends in secret lesbian code!
To learn more about Anne, check out our episode and follow-up Christmas special!
“My capital of silk, you are so soft, but its hard, this heart, this art, this dark…to understand…but if you go the land…of the thousand dances…we might just have a million and one chances.”
—
Come dwell with me underneath these pink skies, hold my hand, and I will hold your heart.
e.v.e.
show me the places where the others gave you scars (insp.)
I wanna run away with someone in the middle of the night and go on adventures and see the world and eat at cheap truck stops and sit on top of our car and look at the stars and just be somewhere other than here.
I caught a glimpse of her dark soul and a taste of her poisoned lips ever since then, my soul has been mourning her absence and crying for more
my dark and lone mind
Solitude is independence. It had been my wish and with the years I had attained it. It was cold. Oh, cold enough! But it was also still, wonderfully still and vast like the cold stillness of space in which the stars revolve.
Herman Hesse (via quotemadness)
-Rumi
When I walk past the places we once stood The air hums with the exact frequency of my soul A song for ears atuned to silence How could I forget them, those words we never did quite say ? They flood my black, night-darkened eyes like white river rapids A whirlwind, a maelstrom, crushing waves and groaling winds Just pure feral strength, sweeping me off my feet Your memory hits me, violent and tidal Dragging me off shore, to the mercy of furies Thoughts that I have not appeased for a long time I fear I will drown, choke on the heartache that fills my lungs I’m not sure I can survive you twice For the deepsea sirens await Like ferocious hounds, starved of food and attention Fangs planted deep in me, things I want to ignore But I once have howled with them For years and years, I called for you everyday My shrieks, silence swallowed them all My hoarse throat strangled with salt and bitterness I couldn’t keep singing and let you become a casualty of me I was deprived, thirsty for storms and thunder But I will swallow this ache, force the tumultuous waters to settle Much like I did back then, I will walk away Let the ocean creatures plunge back to their abyss Return to my darkness
Here is a not very Christmas-themed poem written for and inspired by @heartofmuse. I used phrases from some of her wonderful poems (which every one of you should definitely check out) as well as themes that are recurrent in her works. I hope you like it e.v.e, have a wonderfully merry Christmas and a new year full of inspired musings !
3 a.m.
I find myself in the midst of poetry written by the broken hearted. As I read each line the overwhelmingly hurt that’s been forgotten in my mind. Yet felt in my heart the cries of all the why’s.
Poetry not only written or rewritten; but the kind living in the hearts of those who have lived hurt an pain. In which now converts to healing through words. Writing, the aftermath of endured angush.
Those who have had the highest of hopes. Only to find those hopes crushed by someones lies. Or torn, shattered, and distraught by the hands of a narcissist. Which ever the case may be, I say to you; don’t feel alone because I’ve lived the pain in your poems that I read.
R.A.