Rachel Swirsky's Blog, page 3
February 4, 2022
Cat Drawing! Zephyr Sits
Cat drawing! He’s foreshortened here which makes him look a bit like a giant-headed mini-cat, but that is such a very Zephyr expression.
February 3, 2022
Haiku for February 3rd
Friends go visiting.
At our hearth, no time has passed.
Listen, we’re laughing.
February 2, 2022
Check Out the 2021 Locus Recommended Reading List
Lots of short story goodness on the Locus Recommended Reading List!
I’m excited to see my short piece, “Thirteen of the Secrets in My Purse,” in there. I’m really excited to see how much it’s resonated with people!
Sometimes, it’s just good to write something a bit silly. I know, pandemic-wise, I’ve been craving fun and ridiculousness.
If you haven’t read it, it’s up at the inimitable Uncanny Magazine:
One: My lipstick.
The shade is Heart’s Blood.
Morbid, if you ask me.
I wanted to know if it was really the color of heart’s blood so I bought beef heart and tried dabbing my lips.
Close enough.
I emailed to congratulate the lipstick company on their realism. They did not respond.
January 31, 2022
An Alphabetical Guide to Potential Building Materials for Aspiring Urban Planners
This month, my patrons are receiving an exclusive flash piece, “An Alphabetical Guide to Potential Building Materials for Aspiring Urban Planners.”
I wrote this for the annual flash fiction contest I participate in every January/February. The goal is to write a piece of flash every weekend for five weeks. Last week was two of five. I had some trouble revving up my thought process until, with the deadline looming, I focused on the prompt, “What is your kingdom built of?”
As you might be able to tell from the title, it’s a bit (a lot) silly.
All my patrons receive an exclusive reward each month. There’s no specific amount required. I’m happy to share my creations with everyone who subscribes to my Patreon.
A is for Alligators
Challenging for inexperienced planners. They will bite when you try to stack them.
B is for Barricades
Though barricades make good walls by definition, beware barricading yourself out of your own city.
C is for Carbonara
Messy, but delicious. Do not continue eating your city after it’s been left unrefrigerated for more than three hours.
Thanks to all my current patrons. Every dollar helps keep me writing!
January 28, 2022
Cat Pictures! Pete in a Hat
This is one of the images I used in Scragamuffin, the chapbook I released as October 2021’s exclusive Patreon reward. I thought it might be fun to release the pictures with the photos that inspired them.
Pete doesn’t look particularly happy about the hat, but he tolerated it. Zephyr was having none of the hat. I think Clone was just fine with the hat because it meant someone was paying attention to him. His entire goal in life was attention. For instance, during that visit, the other cats were skeptical of the dog. Clone, however, used him as a stepstool to get closer to human hands.
January 27, 2022
Haiku for January 27th
The cats cuddle close
wanting the warmth of my skin
offering their fur.
January 21, 2022
Cat Drawing! Wander Face
Cat drawing! Just Wander’s face this time when he was an adolescent with a half-grown mane.
January 20, 2022
Haiku for January 20th
Waiting in the cold,
trying not to let my mind
rush when all is calm.
January 19, 2022
Upwards Toward the Light
This poem was published in a poetry anthology memorializing Ursula K. Le Guin. It’s composed from scraps of her writing, cut up, pulled apart, and stitched in different ways to create an elegy.
Upwards Toward the Light
We have nothing but freedom:
not a gift given, but a heavy load
of permanent, intolerable uncertainty
that binds us beyond choice.
To be whole is to be part.
We all have forests in our minds,
unexplored, unending
stories in the middle of living.
When we are finally naked in the cold,
we who are so rich, so full of strength,
we breathe back the breathe that made us live,
we give back to the world all we did not do,
we are left only with kindness.
To see how beautiful the earth is,
you must choose to see it like the moon.
January 12, 2022
Haiku for January 13th
Winter-whitened sun
makes a cold, pretty morning–
gentle, short-lived light.
