When so many pretty sailors they are pressed and sent to sea?

[sovay]

I have been shot in the shoulder! I had to wait an extra half-hour for it, too, since the pharmacy was so slammed with vaccinations that eventually they had to call in a second tech to shorten the line, which I interpret as a good sign. Araḫ Abu at the end of the summer is the month of Gilgameš, which means the upper and lower worlds are more closely twined than usual. May any evil which would seize my body be taken in charge of Namtar and spirited over the river to the land of no return.

My poem "Fair Exchange" has been accepted by Not One of Us. It was written last night and marks my first creative work since the brutal sleep deprivation of this construction-ridden summer really got underway. It may have been prompted by this papyrus, but it is not as though I don't think under normal circumstances about drowning, ghosts, sea-rise.

I slept out of the house in order to avoid the return of municipal deafening and am reliably informed that this morning a dump truck joined in to literalize the metaphor.

P.S. My mother said I looked like the prow of a ship.

Comments

[a_reasonable_man]

I'm glad you got your jab and some sleep! And your mom is right--you do look like a prow! What would be the name of this vessel?

Congratulations on your poem!

[sovay]

I'm glad you got your jab and some sleep! And your mom is right--you do look like a prow! What would be the name of this vessel?

selkie should know! I have not been able to repeat the sleep, but am hoping that the crushing exhaustion of the last three days is a sign of my immune system doing the right thing.

Congratulations on your poem!

Thank you! It was a genuinely nice day.

[gwynnega]

Congratulations on the poetry sale! That's great you got the jab. (There seems to be conflicting advice about when to get the vaccine after an infection, but since I had Covid a little over a month ago, I figure I'll wait a bit for my jab.)

You do look rather prow-esque!

[kore]

Yeah, we got sick around July 3, so T wants to wait til early October to get it now.

[sovay]

Congratulations on the poetry sale! That's great you got the jab. (There seems to be conflicting advice about when to get the vaccine after an infection, but since I had Covid a little over a month ago, I figure I'll wait a bit for my jab.)

Thank you! My last shot was in March, so from an epidemiological perspective I may have been overdue. I hope you can usefully get your own jab soon.

You do look rather prow-esque!

I need to write something I can use it as an author photo for. (I need to write something.)

[leecetheartist]

What a lovely ship's figurehead, guiding the ship safely!

[sovay]

What a lovely ship's figurehead, guiding the ship safely!

Thank you!

[chanter1944]

Congratulations twice! Once for the vaccination, once for the poem's acceptance for publication. :)

I'm also delighted that your pharmacy was so thoroughly busy for prosocial reasons! Stories like that do my community-minded heart glad. I hope my own choice of pharmacy is equally as bustling for positive reasons when I duck in this weekend, aiming to be just as shot in the shoulder.

Purrbaby people cat icon is deliberate.

[sovay]

Congratulations twice! Once for the vaccination, once for the poem's acceptance for publication.

Thank you and thank you!

I'm also delighted that your pharmacy was so thoroughly busy for prosocial reasons! Stories like that do my community-minded heart glad. I hope my own choice of pharmacy is equally as bustling for positive reasons when I duck in this weekend, aiming to be just as shot in the shoulder.

Luck! Fewer people than I would have liked were masked, but the fact that they were there for the shot at all seemed like a good sign.

[skygiants]

that's a fantastic photo and I love the shirt in particular

[sovay]

that's a fantastic photo and I love the shirt in particular

Thank you!

[mrissa]

Poem congrats!

[sovay]

Poem congrats!

Thank you!

[kathmandu]

I'm glad to hear that there were so many people getting vaccinated.

And congratulations on a decent night's sleep.

[sovay]

I'm glad to hear that there were so many people getting vaccinated.

I was surprised and appreciative.

And congratulations on a decent night's sleep.

Thank you!

[muccamukk]

I really like how the light came across in the picture. It has a real water colour painting look, especially with that shirt.

[sovay]

I really like how the light came across in the picture. It has a real water colour painting look, especially with that shirt.

Thank you so much! I will tell my mother, who took it.

[sholio]

She is absolutely correct! What a lovely picture.

[sovay]

She is absolutely correct! What a lovely picture.

Thank you!

[selkie]

Upper and lower worlds pfui, pfui, pfui. May we not have to go where it’s damp.

(It does satisfy me where the poem came from.)

*waves appreciative little flag at photograph*

[sovay]

Upper and lower worlds pfui, pfui, pfui. May we not have to go where it’s damp.

Good apotropaism. We shall go to the seashore, which is different.

(It does satisfy me where the poem came from.)

(Thank you.)

*waves appreciative little flag at photograph*

*hugs*

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, congrats on the poem, and also on the shot! That is an excellent other-kind-of-shot of you, too. You do look like you could be on the prow of a ship.

[sovay]

Aw, congrats on the poem, and also on the shot! That is an excellent other-kind-of-shot of you, too. You do look like you could be on the prow of a ship.

Thank you!

[minoanmiss]

Yeah, you definitley look like a ship's prow goddess there.

Have you heard of the White Gilgamesh? it is allegedly a drink. Like many things I need to do some research.

[sovay]

Yeah, you definitley look like a ship's prow goddess there.

Thank you!

Have you heard of the White Gilgamesh? it is allegedly a drink. Like many things I need to do some research.

Never! Is it like a White Russian, only . . . Mesopotamian? I have to look this up.

(a) Two-thirds dark beer and one-third goat's milk has got to be a joke.

(b) There must be a way to mix an actually potable cocktail maintaining the spirit of this inspiration while avoiding everything the drink sounds like it actually tastes like.

[minoanmiss]

I am delighted that I had the same reaction you did to the White Gilgamesh. I'm pretty sure the proportions are a reference to Gilgamesh's parentage, but I cannot think of any proportions that would work except for a nice mug of beer and a nice plate of goat cheese balls. Served alongside each other.

[sovay]

I am delighted that I had the same reaction you did to the White Gilgamesh.

Statistically there must exist a person who had a different reaction and I sincerely hope they enjoyed the experience. That person does not seem to exist on the internet.

I'm pretty sure the proportions are a reference to Gilgamesh's parentage, but I cannot think of any proportions that would work except for a nice mug of beer and a nice plate of goat cheese balls. Served alongside each other.

Right! That's food! I don't even like beer and I can tell that's food! The other is not!

[dramaticirony]

Congrats on the jab. I went for mine last night, but evidently my insurance hasn't set the new Covid Vaccine in their system for reimbursement, so I had to reschedule.

Excited to hear about the poem!

[sovay]

Congrats on the jab. I went for mine last night, but evidently my insurance hasn't set the new Covid Vaccine in their system for reimbursement, so I had to reschedule.

Thank you and condolences! I hope you were able to reschedule soon.

Excited to hear about the poem!

Being able to write something was incredibly nice! I just need to be able to reproduce the experience at better than eight-week intervals!

[kore]

Yay poem! Yay vax!

BOO DUMP TRUCK WTF

[sovay]

Yay poem! Yay vax!

Thank you!

BOO DUMP TRUCK WTF

It's too much construction. It was too much construction a month ago. The novelty was dead to begin with.

[yarrowkat]

yay for the shot, the poem, and the sleep!

[sovay]

yay for the shot, the poem, and the sleep!

Thank you!

[thawrecka]

Congrats! And you look great, and your mum is right.

[sovay]

Congrats! And you look great, and your mum is right.

Thank you!

[moon_custafer]

Araḫ Abu at the end of the summer is the month of Gilgameš, which means the upper and lower worlds are more closely twined than usual.

So the crack in their calendar where souls have some wiggle room is at the end of summer (like O-Bon in Japan), rather than the end of fall?

[sovay]

So the crack in their calendar where souls have some wiggle room is at the end of summer (like O-Bon in Japan), rather than the end of fall?

To be honest, what with the month of Tammuz, the entire Mesopotamian summer is pretty haunted, really.

[moon_custafer]

Am now picturing somebody leafing through their pressed-sailors album and admiring favourite specimens.

[sovay]

Am now picturing somebody leafing through their pressed-sailors album and admiring favourite specimens.

Rán, I bet.

(I like your interpretation of the image.)

[aurumcalendula]

Yay for your poem and vaccine!

That's a fabulous photo!

[sovay]

Yay for your poem and vaccine!

Thank you!

That's a fabulous photo!

And thank you!

[asakiyume]

You do look like a ship's prow! And I'm so happy to hear about that poem's acceptance--I love it.

And hurray for vaccinations! I need to get me one of those....

[sovay]

You do look like a ship's prow! And I'm so happy to hear about that poem's acceptance--I love it.

Thank you! On both counts!

And hurray for vaccinations! I need to get me one of those....

May it be uncomplicated to schedule and effective once in you!

[theseatheseatheopensea]

I'm glad you got your vaccine! <3

P.S. My mother said I looked like the prow of a ship.

You absolutely do! By the way, have you ever read this story? (it's the second one on the page, called "The Mermaid", or here's the original, if you prefer--I always think of it whenever prows of ships come up...)

[sovay]

I'm glad you got your vaccine!

Thank you!

You absolutely do! By the way, have you ever read this story? (it's the second one on the page, called "The Mermaid", or here's the original, if you prefer--I always think of it whenever prows of ships come up...)

I had not read it in either language! It's haunting. And I can see why you thought of it. I would hope to be alive to meet the siren myself.

[theseatheseatheopensea]

I would hope to be alive to meet the siren myself.

<3 I love this siren very much!