gradually and then suddenly

-Anaïs Nin, 1939

its gonna be nothing like you planned

source

— Clarice Lispector, The Stream of Life

As widespread lockdowns swept the globe earlier this year in response to the threat of COVID-19, intimacy became fraught. For artist Käthe Butcher, the loss of an embrace or casual peck on the cheek was incredibly difficult. This desire for connection culminated in “A Hug In The Garden,” an emotional rendering of two women holding each other. (Source)

Photographed by Freddie Ardley

learning to move around discomfort

Mary Oliver, “The Pond” from Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver, Long Life : Essays and Other Writings

Joespeh Pintauro and Norman Laliberté, The Magic Box, 1970

Linda Pastan, The Months

As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty (Jonas Mekas, 2000)

[Text ID: “I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,”]

Czesław Miłosz, “Love.”