@ceaseandcaesura
A Substack that galvanizes the literary sphere with strange and electric delicacies. EIC @phantomlamb.bsky.social https://ceaseandcaesuralit.substack.com/p/corrections-for-the-end-of-arctic?r=5ob1sh&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
I have lived a lifetime of being sorry, and trying to follow the system that betrayed me. I am not sorry. I bet you half of the people on here have me muted anyway and don’t even pay attention. So I don’t have to tolerate harm dressed as politeness.
I honestly don’t even care. I have had enough of fake people. Hate me if you want, but people have hated me even when I did things “the appropriate way.” If you’re going to make someone decode the world on your terms, you are part of the problem
I don't know why I'm still on social media. I feel like the world would be better without it. I am not even saying the internet was a bad idea. Only social. I had a psychology professor who was trying to study the impact of social media. He didn't like what he was seeing. That should tell you a lot.
There’s no reason for a mass exodus. All platforms inevitably yield the same results. Whoever gets listened to gets listened to. I am neurodivergent. I have disabilities I can’t afford to get proper diagnosis for. I have known for a long time the world won’t listen to me. I don’t expect it to now.
Proud to be here for another Black History Month! Show some love to the Black creators who've been a part of FIYAH for the past decade:
go.bsky.app/VSHmC2p
Stay tuned for some unreleased content from our Contributor’s Corner series. Some autobiographical poetry by Aviva Lilith.
open.substack.com/pub/ceaseand...
I'm not a huge fan of publications or journals that stress craft. Once you make that claim, you open yourself to the judgement of what good craft is. I've found the craft claim is often a cover for subjective taste. It is one of the more dishonest gimmicks of the literary landscape.
SUBS CLOSE TONIGHT! Get them polished, get them in! ⌛
Craft is important to any art form. However, craft often gets weaponized. Many craft guides are excruciatingly reductive, and they won’t help you create the work you want to create.
I also do the thing where I read the work that is published to see if the rejection was warranted lmao. I always feel like a hater. But I am often disappointed with what’s published, and I walk away feeling mystified. Tell my why it’s always the prestigious ones that say they’re craft-oriented 😣
Every other month there is a fiction writer who thinks they can win hearts by making fun of poets in their writing. As a poet, I actually like fiction. But the pattern is disrespectful.
Paying submission fees to be rejected is so funny dude
It is the literary version of playing the lottery. Wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t sink over 40k worth of debt to actually attempt do it professionally. Other jobs don’t ask you to pay them. I love the ones that send you books they publish. It’s “Sorry we broke up. Come to my wedding vibes.”
Any politician voting to give ICE more money is a failure to humanity. I don't care what you've done before. You've failed.
Patronage during the Renaissance was mostly rich people adopting cryptids.
Since nobody’s paying attention, I am just going to start saying random things. Starting right now.
Nobody asked you to be here, few will ask you to stay: life as rain, life as rain.
Creative community project on diversity and current events is still open. If you would like to join, you can email me at ceaseandcaesura@gmail.com. Please spread the word for anyone else interested. We have 17 spots that can still be filled.
I don’t recommend any articles with titles that say “this list of things will make you a writer.” Nothing will make you a writer other than doing the work of reading and writing. There are no other mystical habits one must acquire to be a writer.
This point in time is weird because we need to grieve, but we also need to keep going at the same time. It’s difficult to juggle survival with the need to grieve, but a lot of people who needed to grieve have been forced into survival mode by the system. They’ve been doing this longer than us.
Please email me at ceaseandcaesura@gmail.com if you are interested.
open.substack.com/pub/ceaseand...
Post from Radical Books Collective on ICE, historical problem of border patrol, violence towards immigrants, and more.
substack.com/@warscapes/n...
History Is Upstairs
while, one may silence a body
with desire, disease or famine.
our cultural languages multiply
real-time does not absolve—
it inventories.
there’s always a reckoning
that does not pronounce itself.
history climbs quiet and ardent
as one subtly ——waits.
A #Solseed Joint
#poetry
I'm not fighting for an unobtainable purity either. I just don't think we should be focusing on how things make us look, but understanding the depth of the problem and how to change.
I don't like the phrase "The right side of history." To me, it implies concern over image. Because it focuses on how we will look later rather than pivoting our concern towards what's actually happening and why it matters. Doing right and doing better don't come with a reward.
Swooping back this very fine MLK Day with our first unthemed issue of 2026! Behold! Get yours! Tell a friend!
fiyahlitmag.com/shop/issues/...
MY PERPETUAL REBELLION AGAINST GRAVITY I refuse to let disgust usurp my light. I'll dapple onto black holes in my perpetual rebellion against gravity. The universe commands me to smash mirrors and fear everything else so I'm flipping it off with a finger of glass and opening my arms to uncertainty.
I've been spending too much time on my phone lately, absorbing blue light and the negativity of others. It's extremely unhealthy. I'm gonna try to spend less time on it. Wish me luck!
#vss365 #dapple #poetry
I think the threads for this were there long before Trump. He's just proof we haven't dealt with the root cause. We've never been a great country. We just were more idealistic once. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be mad, but it's deeper than Trump. The foundation has been broken since day 1.
The world feels too heavy lately.
#monoprint Acrylic on paper.
#art #printmaking #figuratively #grief
