An Erotic Invitation to Captive Love 💔
The feminist poet I can't stop reading 👀
Hello Wonderful Reader,
Tell me about someone you loved but who held you captive. That’s the question that haunted me when I discovered this 1916 poem…
Sweet Torture
By Alfonsina Storni (1892-1938)
Gold dust in your hands was my melancholy;
I spilled my life over your long hands
My sweetness remained clinging to your hands
Now I am an empty amphora of perfumes.
How much sweet torture quietly endured
When, stung by the shadowy soul of sadness,
Knowing about deceptions, I spent my days
Kissing the two hands that shaped my life!
Source: Scribd
Four Prompts To Go Deeper ✍️
“How much sweet torture quietly endured”
Write about a connection with a partner where you couldn’t separate pleasure from pain.
“Gold dust in your hands was my melancholy;”
How has someone you loved kept you small?
“I spilled my life over your long hands”
Write about all the time you devoted to a person.
“Now I am an empty amphora of perfumes.”
Write about what a former lover took from you.
The Backstory 📜
Alfonsina Storni (1892-1938) was a Swiss-Argentine Modernist poet, teacher, and playwright. She took her own life at 46 when her breast cancer reappeared, inspiring this quirky tale:
“Although her biographers hold that she jumped into the water from a breakwater, a popular legend is that she slowly walked into the sea until she drowned.”
I am obsessed with all things Alfonsina. I can’t wait to share more of her work with you. Here’s an extract from her daring poem “Hombre pequeñito,” with my English translation:
“I was in your cage, little man, little man that gives me a cage. I say little because you don’t understand me, nor will you ever. I don’t understand you either, but in the meantime, open the cage I want to escape from. Little man, I loved you for half an hour, don’t ask me for more.”
What else have I been up to? 🚀
I finally launched my online shop!
Today, I am giving The Morning Workshop at Soho House in Mexico City on the theme of “Discovery,” using one of Storni’s poems in a featured chapter from The Intimacy Journal.
I published a new article on my other blog about The Tuluminati.
I’m sharing more updates on Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn. Follow me!
Reply and tell me: which writing prompt resonated with you the most? I read and respond to every DM I get!
Sending love,
Tash
💌 ✍️
loooooove the video !!