Olga's Poetry & Thoughts

I have compiled a list of the top 10 books I read in 2015 (but the books are not necessarily written in 2015... actually none of them are). Yes, I read a lot. Hopefully my fellow bookworms will take joy in this list, and read one of these gems this Christmas season. 10. Into the Wild (1996) by: Jon Krakauer Favourite quote: "It is easy, when you are young, you believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it." Reason to read this book: it will make you feel more adventurous (but also sad) This book is a very touching, non-fictional account of Chris McCandless, a man who, upon graduating college, journeys on his own to the middle of the Alaskan wilderness, and never returns. His tale does not make sense to the average, sedentary person, and why any human would take such a risk baffles me. It's a great read, and will take you to the wild side! 9. Dracula (1...

Here is a thing that you may not know about me. I hate my face. And not in a casual sort of way that is modest and attention-seeking. The self-hate for my face is real. Amid all my insecurities, from some of my unpleasant personality traits to my guilt of not working out enough (whoops!), my face, unfortunately (and quite shallowly) takes first place. Perhaps writing down this insecurity, taming it, and confining it to a series of paragraphs will help me see how senseless it is to fret so much about something, that, frankly, is irrelevant to my worth as a person, and how my obsessive insecurity might, ironically, make me a more irritable and spiteful person instead. Ever since the age of twelve, I have had acne. You know, the usual teenager "T-zone" acne on the forehead, cheeks, chin, and occasional nose and neck. Except maybe a tad worse than the "usual." That means, for the past nine years of my life, I have woken up every single day being self-conscious. I don...

I went to sleep one day and woke up on the street With a musky beard on my chin and no shoes on my feet I smelled my whiskey breath and cried to the sky Why have you taken away my youth, God, why? I woke the next day on a downy filled bed Servants round my toes and a crown on my head I was asked to behead twenty people that day Can I please be a beggar again, if I may? After a night full of dispassionate sorrow I could not find a more dismal tomorrow I was a blind woman and a deaf one too I envied the man who couldn't afford shoes The next day I saw in the mirror a face With not even an eyelash out of place A bombshell model who puked up bread I cried because I'd rather be blind than dead In the span of one night I aged 50 years Gained wrinkles and fuzz in my ears I was a grandfather so close to the grave To be a pretty girl again I so did crave Switching through bodies was exhausting, you see I forgot who I was, but I yearned to be me Which will n...

On Halloween Eve I attended a feast Where friends were disguised as brilliant beasts Amid all the rags of black, grey, and plum My red dress blotted the floor with red rum I was the Queen of Hearts for one night Flattered by men who blushed at my sight I was a caricature of women who rage I was a damsel from the Victorian age Though I was proposed to by all the males I rejected them at the swish of my scarlet red nails There was one man, in the corner of the room Who caused my intrigue to tenderly bloom He was not a clown, a cowboy, or an ape He was a skeleton in a flowing black cape This sort of blasphemy I've never seen To dress as the Reaper for Halloween He transformed a holiday of fun and fear Into a reminder that death is too near He left to the garden, and I followed and whined And told him his costume was way out of line He turned his head and I shuddered at his face Which was a skeletal, bleached disgrace "Sir, I demand you unmask your brow! ...

Why do you wear red lipstick? Honey, it just makes you seem lovesick As if the blood from your heart and your brain Travelled straight to your mouth Leaving you heartless and dumb And desperate for a kiss Why do you wear red lipstick? While claiming that you defend women's rights For if you truly did, you would rebel Against the covergirls and the cosmo magazines But instead you draw attention to superficial femininity Eve's sins smeared on your lips Oh, why do you wear red lipstick? I answer: because I like to

We are disconnected stars; artificial constellations A mind set, a fluke, a trick of the imagination We are lines connecting but never intersecting We do what's expected but are never expecting We are tied to each other one day, severed the next We are mere pawns, but think we are blessed Fingers in each other's palms, we are whole Eyes connected, we make love soul to soul A warm word, a kind slip of the tongue A kiss, a relief, a reminder that we are still young But the moment we part, an ocean divides us And a mystical force in the universe guides us The moment that our lines disconnect The moment that our souls don't reflect Is the moment we flee from each other, and fast Lightyears apart, we say the past is the past All the faces I've seen, touched, caressed All the hearts that I've cried to, lied to and undressed All the stars that I've met that produced something new A beautiful constellation in the sky, a dark blue All the friendshi...

*Apologies for belated post. Internet was down for one week!* Yesterday, I went on a class field trip to Florence. The majority of the day consisted of a guided tour through the Uffizi, one of the oldest art galleries in the world. Apart from being insanely crowded and bursting at the seams with tourists (like myself) I was still able to take a few angled photographs of the most interesting pieces we saw, of which I will give a brief description in this blog post. Below is the first art piece that the guide showed us. Unfortunately, I was not able to find the name for it. It features the Virgin Mary, very two-dimensional, with the angels seemingly stacked on top of each other. Her facial features are diminished and there is no use of highlights or shadow, giving no depth to the art piece. Below is the art piece “Ognissanti Madonna” by Giotto di Bondone (1310). This representation of the Virgin Mary is much different from the first. In this piece, she is strong and feminine,...