Love Poems. Model: Yumna #beautiful #poetry #poetrybooks #lovepoems #rumi #chicagomodel #yumna

"Day has record of pleasure and pain, But things that are done by Night remain For ever and ever unknown." Laurence Hope, from "Reverie: Zahir-u-Din," in "India's Love Lyrics," 1902 #LaurenceHope #AdelaFlorenceNicolson #poetry #poems #secrets

Ardis, Reading in her studio #photography #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #monochrome #beautifulwomen #photography #originalphotography #chicagomodel #chicagophotographer #ardis

"When the violin repeats what the piano has played..." The translator's note by John Ciardi, in the Signet Classics edition of Dante's "Inferno." #JohnCiardi #Dante #translation #translators #language #literature #books

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." Oscar Wilde, "Lady Windermere's Fan" #OscarWilde

Invoking Veronica Lake. Model: @cassandra-fowler.bsky.social #MonochromeMonday #BlackAndWhite #BlackAndWhitePhotography #Photography #FemmeFatale #VeronicaLake #ChicagoModel #ChicagoPhotographer #Cassandra #cassandra-fowler

Late night library sessions at Bryn Mawr College by Alfred Eisenstaedt, 1959

Absolutely, what a feeling... #BookSky

Tonight, in honor of Anthony Head, we break out the old DVDs of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Maybe the "Fear Itself" Halloween episode, where he answers the door in a sombrero. Not a bad way to say adios. #AnthonyHead #Buffy #BuffyTheVampireSlayer

"I don't see what women see in other women," I'd told Doctor Nolan in my interview that noon. "What does a woman see in a woman that she can't see in a man?" Doctor Nolan paused. Then she said, "Tenderness." Sylvia Plath, "The Bell Jar" #SylviaPlath #TheBellJar #literature

Mourning the Loss. Marjane Satrapi, 1969 - 2026 #MarjaneSatrapi #persepolis #persepolis2 #writers #artists #graphicnovels #comics #comicartists #iran #pantheonbooks

It's Pride Month, so once again here's Sappho's Reply, one of the most powerful queer poems ever. Written by Rita Mae Brown at the height of the post-Stonewall struggles, it's the origin of "an army of lovers shall not fail/cannot lose." Y'all, we are going to win.

Lit Editor Business for @thirdcoastrvw.bsky.social: New Chicago Is Lit column. @me3dia.bsky.social, @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social, @quimbysbookstore.bsky.social, et al thirdcoastreview.com/lit/2026/06/...

"The artist must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative." Paul Robeson's epitaph, Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York #art #actors #courage #PaulRobeson #history #epitaphs

chicagoliteraryhof.org/literary_chi... From the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, a map of literary locations: Past homes of Gwendolyn Brooks, Carl Sandburg, Nelson Algren, Sandra Cisneros, Richard Wright and others. #literature #chicago #ChicagoWriters #LiteraryChicago #ChicagoLiteraryHallOfFame

"I write so much because my cat sits on my lap. She purrs so I don't want to get up. She's so much more calming than my husband." - Joyce Carol Oates (@joycecaroloates.bsky.social) Source: www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapte... #cats #JoyceCarolOates #writers #writing

"I went over to the desk and stared down at the book. What was inside it that made it so dangerous to girls like me? So flammable? So ruinous?" Margaret Atwood, "The Testaments" #MargaretAtwood #literature #testaments #books #DangerousBooks #DangerousWomen #WomenAndBooks #censorship #gilead

The demagogue in Sinclair Lewis' "It Can't Happen Here" is "vulgar, almost illiterate, a public liar easily detected, and in his 'ideas' almost idiotic." With a despot in the White House, the book reads as prophecy. If you value those who gave their lives for democracy, resist. #MemorialDay

Window Light and Shadow. Model: A.H. #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #monochromemonday #monochrome #photography #artphotography #nude #naturallight #originalphotography #sensual #chicagophotographer #a.h.

I’m having a bad mental health day and this is the best I can do today. It’s okay to have bad days. Anything worth doing is worth doing badly. #painting #watercolor #pleinair #flowers #letsdowhatwecan

"I smell sweet," she said to herself simply, and then came another thought—"I'm made for love." F. Scott Fitzgerald, "May Day" #love #FScottFitzgerald #fitzgerald #literature

"And if there come the singers and the dancers and the flute players, — buy of their gifts also... that which they bring, though fashioned of dreams, is raiment and food for your soul." Kahlil Gibran, from "The Prophet" #Inspiration #Art #KahlilGibran #TheProphet #SupportCreators #SupportTheArts

Ha! Yeah.📚

"Don't get undressed and start pointing out your flaws... Men don't notice or care. They are about to get laid! They are so psyched. Men are very visual, so if you don't want them to look at your stomach just put fake mustaches on your breasts to distract them." Amy Poehler, from "Yes Please"

And the Answer is: None. None More Red. #flowers #photography #snapshot #red #beauty #colors #prettythings #timelinecleanse #howmuchmoreredcoulditbe

Strength and silhouette. The documentary power of a professional heels dancer at the barre. Rim lighting highlights the athletic form against the theater's dark soul. Pure artistic discipline. 👠 #heels #dance #theater #studiolighting #portrait #luiscordobapharchive #performance #fineart #body

"A Lovely Fire" by Tambimuttu and G. V. Vaidya From the 1954 Peter Pauper Press book "India Love Poems" #poetry #indialovepoems #peterpauperpress #tambimuttu #lovepoems #vintagebooks #g.v.vaidya

👍

"I lost my innocence the old-time-religious way, by reading the nursery rhyme of fornication that is the Old Testament and the fairy tale of bloodbath that is the New..." Sarah Vowell, from "Take the Cannoli" (Simon and Schuster, 2000) #sarahvowell #sin #religion #innocence #morality

I challenge anyone to find a headline that captures the sheer stupidity of Life in the Time of Donald Trump better than this one. #cnn #trump #brianchristine #hantavirus #maha #idiocy #clueless #incompetence #maga

"The very thought of you..." From "Milk and Honey" by Rupi Kaur, Andrews McMeel Publishing (@andrewsmcmeel.bsky.social), 2015. #rupikaur #milkandhoney #poetry #poetrybooks #poets #artists #andrewsmcmeel

Highlights #SelfPortrait

what i'd like is time and a quiet mind and a bit less of this feeling of an urgent quest and a lot of noise

"The Raven Girl went to school... everyone ignored the Raven Girl. She was so silent and shy that she was overlooked by the busy professors and students." "Raven Girl" by @audreyniffenegger.bsky.social (@abramscomicarts.bsky.social, 2013)

"He did not want to wake her but he could not leave her alone now in this last time and he put his lips behind her ear and moved them up along her neck, feeling the smooth skin and the soft touch of her hair on them." Ernest Hemingway, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" #hemingway #love #literature

"I saw in Tangiers two Moorish women wearing their native costume, which between their two veils shows nothing except the eyes, but through that, I saw their soul." Pierre Louys, "Woman and the Puppet" #eyes #veils #modesty #soul #pierrelouys #literature

"Pandora is the first woman; thanks to her... the carefree age of men comes to an end. But you'll forgive me for suggesting that an all-male age with no women (and no fire) sounds incredibly boring. Of course it was carefree, what the hell would anyone care about?" Natalie Haynes, "Pandora's Jar"

Late Morning, A Touch of Red. Model: @cassandra-fowler.bsky.social #photography #originalphotography #beauty #beautiful #chicagophotographer #chicagomodel #cassandrafowler

"That's why I'm not to be trusted Because a wound to the heart is also a wound to the mind." Louise Glück, from "The Untrustworthy Speaker" #louiseglück #louisegluck #poems #poetry #brokenheart #wounds #literature #ararat

💚Still to Come!💚 Wonderer: Sparking New Poems An online webinar workshop led by @nikitagill.bsky.social hdfst.uk/e150144

Summer Dreams. Model: Monea #monochromemonday #monochrome #blackandwhite #portraits #photography #originalphotography #chicagophotographer #monea (I wish I had chosen a different title for this photo. Now the song Summer Dreams is stuck in my head. I hate that song.)

"Love is like a tree: it shoots of itself; it strikes its roots deeply into our whole being, and frequently continues to be green over a heart in ruins." Victor Hugo, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" #victorhugo #love #literature #hunchbackofnotredame #hearts

Find Me Where the Wild Things Are. Model: Lorena (Tagging @ctoddstoll.bsky.social, since his "Intentional Focus Blur" shot reminded me of this one.) #originalphotography #hiddenwomen #strangeportraits #chicagophotographer #purple

This photo, by Todd Stoll, sent me rummaging through images from a shoot I did years ago...

Bitten by a Strange Impulse. Model: @cassandra-fowler.bsky.social #blackandwhite #monochrome #dangerouswomen #strangewomen #strangeportraits #streetphotography #originalphotography #chicagophotographer #chicagomodel #cassandrafowler

"It's a truism that love is blind; what's less obvious is just how much evidence it can ignore." Margaret Heffernan, "Willful Blindness" #margaretheffernan #psychology #sociology #willfulblindness #love #delusions #relationships #ideology #herdmentality

Reposting for #terrypratchettday

Green Tea Tin 2064 #prettythings #randomprettythings #snapshot #green #greentea #tea #originalphotography #colors #design #appreciatelittlethings

"Be not afraid, my child..." From "Celestial Veil" by Catherine Archer (@catherinexarcher.bsky.social) Found at Uncharted Books on Independent Bookstore Day, www.chilovebooks.com #catherinexarcher #catherinearcher #chicagoartists #art #watercolors #zines #cartoonists #cartoons #blue #womenandbooks