Reading Raindoe

@readingraindoe.bsky.social

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Poetry: #♡ᝰ.🖋️ (𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘴 & 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦) #booksky 💙📚🪐

Geological time scale mug in bright rainbow colors

POETSpause plaque engraved with the poem Togetherness, by TR Ellis

The Poetry of Chiyo-ni: The Life and Art of Japan's Most Celebrated Woman Haiku Master by Patricia Donegan and Yoshie Ishibashi

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Impression, Sunrise 1873 by Monet, with a grayscale filter on top. The bright sun disappears into the bank of clouds because he has chosen a value for the color (lightness/darkness) that perfectly matches the sky and only stands out in the painting because of the hue (color itself). This is a cool bit of sleight of hand on his part, and kind of nerdy and technical.. but is challenging to do and pretty cool imho

thready lines of ink
my soul slowly unravels
back and forth I go;
these written tatters
a continual unwinding
of what is left of me, the
remnants scattered
on the page, and i
cannot rightly call them
my creation, no—
as much as anything
can be permanent
in this fleeting life
they are my everlasting
decomposition

May 2026 Reading Wrapup from StoryGraph

i too watched the rose bloom
and there were a few
thorns, to be expected
but what small price
for those dew-soft petals;
on the day the bloom burst
i tried to catch them
one
by one
as they drifted down..
but they cannot go back
on this barren, emptied stem
and i have no choice
but to scatter them
where they fell

Great Courses: Language A to Z by John McWhorter

Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow

Hot Potato Poetry Challenge

1. Write a short poem using the prompt
2. Invent a new prompt word and tag a friend
3. Copy this pic and add it to your post
4. Use #poempass
5. Have fun

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

how my eyes hungered
for the yellow dress
that flowed so warm
like honey woven in the sun
my fingers pressed
against the window glass—
you, the dress, and i
and the aching panes between..
separated by a choice
i knew you’d make
someday
and i waited, hopeful
as the slow years passed
and the dress faded there
at last the seams unfurling
until the cloth, so rotted
fell away

Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon

Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

Imago by Octavia E. Butler

Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler

Dawn: Book One of the Xenogenesis Trilogy by Octavia E. Butler

Looking up into the interior of a bright & colorful hot air balloon. A jet of flame shoots up, illuminating it from within. Photo courtesy Pixabay

CorNASAlius

Landsat satellite images of earth spell "Raindoe"

Photo of the Earth taken from Artemis II, courtesy NASA

Urban fox curled up in the grass by the sidewalk, watching the cars go by

White blossoms on a dark branch, a pale overcast sky

but how long, my dearest one?
a falling star blooms
as if in answer

Artemis II makes splashdown off the coast of San Diego. Sky, sea, and a little white sailboat in the background Photo: NASA

Catkins on a branch, swaying in the wind

White owl in a swirl of glittering snow, with subtle colors and sparkles. Painted by me in Procreate, no ai

Photo taken by Artemis II: surface of the Moon in the foreground with a bright blue-white crescent Earth in the distance

Tiny trilobite fossil

Stunning view of the Moon from ArtemisII, courtesy NASA

Mastodon skull, with pointy teeth visible. Morrill Hall, Lincoln Nebraska

Pink and white blossoms about to pop

i hear them, pecking at the gates
circling, the harsh cries
but they cannot get in.
a million crystalline swords
raised in my defense, thoughts
for reflection in a sunbeam
i sip my cup and smile

Caffeine crystals in iridescent hues. Photo Sinclair Stammers / Science Photo Library

Discover Canada, free copy at https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/discover-canada.html

The Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel

First green leaves of an iris pushing up through the soil

The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

Lunar eclipse ripening from pale white to a juicy red. Photo by Catherine Ryan Hyde

James Webb's NIRCam Image of the Exposed Cranium Nebula
(credit NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Spinosaur Tales The Biology and Ecology of Spinosaurs by David Hone and Mark P. Witton

It does no harm to the romance of the sunset to know a little bit about it -- Carl Sagan

red heat rising
palms cupped to the sky
we wait
for the rains
to come..

we close our eyes and feel
the moisture slipping
between the cracks
in our fingers
and our thirst grows
in dry whispers..
though we know
no amount of need or prayer
can bend the sky to our will

there is nothing to do
but hope..
and endure.

overcome by the beauty that flows from your pen

I read.
I laugh, I cry
I share in your joys.
My world is transformed
by your kindness
and your love

through your words,
i am made whole.

my day is brighter
my life is better
because of you.

Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker

The Terror by Dan Simmons

our dreams, in constellations
scattered like stepping stones
connecting the stars
between us

2026 word is Joyous

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion by Sean Carroll

our play on words
is a double entendre of
spoonerisms big and little,
but the silliness of our similes
surely makes me smile :)

Melting snow and leaves on a sidewalk resemble a polar bear (facing right)

~ a think peace ~

the gates are all locked
on the pen in my hand
so i leave for a stroll
down a long paper trail, and
de-compose my thoughts..
i scrub off my mind
where it's stuck on the page,
what a novel way to save me
and emulsify my metaphors,
but that's just the cost
of free association

Do Aliens Speak Physics by Daniel Whiteson and Andy Warner

Beached Whales by Jack Barrack

Their last song, before they donned
A batter of earth and died
Was of ancient waves in Iowa
Created eons ago and stilled with loam.

Magnetized for Eden, they rammed
Cape Cod where cars seem eager
To wallow their drivers East
Toward the burnt
rafters of Leviathan.

They keep coming in, whales
With prairie flowers in their eyes
Their bones sea-and-meadow braided, convinced
They almost made it to Nebraska

We Have No Idea: A Guide to the Known Universe by Jorge Cham and Daniel Whiteson

Skircle of friends via Skircle.me

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

A small trilobite fossil held gently in fingers