Rachel Orta
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rachelorta.bsky.social
Rachel Orta
@rachelorta.bsky.social
200 followers 190 following 83 posts
She/her • Milwaukee, WI • writer • my published work can be found here: https://linktr.ee/rachelorta • Send me dog pics!
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rachelorta.bsky.social
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metachrosislitmag.bsky.social Metachrosis Magazine (Subs Open) @metachrosislitmag.bsky.social · Nov 6
It was such a difficult selection process. I am so proud of the work we publish, and I am happy to announce our nominees for the Pushcart prize. You can read their pieces on our website: metachrosislitmag.co.uk #litmag #literarymagazine #poetry #fiction
Our Pushcart Prize Nominees! Felicia Renea Julia Liu Allie Dechow Elliot Brodeur Tom Okafor Rachel Orta Beside our nominees is an illustration of a lady with a fish tail and wings instead of arms. It's a woodcut print by Ulisse Aldrovandi in the 1642 book Monstrorum Historia
November 6, 2023 at 11:24 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
My piece "For the Birds / Afterlife" in is this issue 🖤
cosmicdaffodil.bsky.social Cosmic Daffodil Journal @cosmicdaffodil.bsky.social · Nov 1
✨️👻 LIGHTS OUT is now LIVE on our website 🧙‍♀️☠️

cosmic-daffodil.squarespace.com/lights-out

Please go check it out and enjoy the collection of spooky stories. Thank you to everyone who has submitted! Your continued support means the world to us.
With love, Madi & Jen 👻♥️
November 6, 2023 at 7:38 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
Poem of the day - from "Surge" by Etel Adnan

poets.org/poem/surge
from “Surge”
A long night I spent
poets.org
October 20, 2023 at 2:37 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
Poem of the day - In Those Years by Adrienne Rich
In those years, people will say, we lost track of the meaning of we, of you we found ourselves reduced to I and the whole thing became silly, ironic, terrible: we were trying to live a personal life and yes, that was the only life we could bear witness to But the great dark birds of history screamed and plunged into our personal weather They were headed somewhere else but their beaks and pinions drove along the shore, through the rags of fog where we stood, saying I Adrienne Rich In Those Years
October 19, 2023 at 6:55 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
actionnetwork.org/letters/tell...
Tell Congress: Ceasefire NOW.
Updated 10.16.23 As the Israeli government cuts 2.3 million Palestinians living under siege off from food, water, fuel, and electricity, it also continues dropping bombs across one of the most den...
actionnetwork.org
October 18, 2023 at 4:28 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
Poem of the day - Mimesis by Fady Joudah
Mimesis BY FADY JOUDAH My daughter wouldn’t hurt a spider That had nested Between her bicycle handles For two weeks She waited Until it left of its own accord If you tear down the web I said It will simply know This isn’t a place to call home And you’d get to go biking She said that’s how others Become refugees isn’t it?
October 18, 2023 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Rachel Orta
maxberger.bsky.social
Ilhan says the public pressure against genocide is working, but we need to keep pushing.
October 15, 2023 at 6:58 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
Poem of the day - Trauma (Storm) by Gregory Orr

It is hard to read this poem today and not think of the countless families and children experiencing an overflowing amount of trauma in Gaza currently and for past decades. Continue to share their stories and donate.
Trauma (Storm) BY GREGORY ORR Hunkered down, nerve-numb, in the carnal hut, the cave of self, while outside a storm rages. Huddled there, rubbing together white sticks of your own ribs, praying for sparks in that dark where tinder is heart, where tender is not.
October 17, 2023 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by Rachel Orta
sarahmillswrites.bsky.social
So excited to share my two poems out today on @havehashad.com - would love if you’d read them! ❤️ 🩷
#poetry
#writingcommunity
2 Poems by Sarah Mills
Love Poem in an Apple Orchard My friend and I go apple picking. I promise him I won’t write a love poem about it. We pluck apples and sneak bites as we stroll and enjoy the cor...
www.havehashad.com
October 16, 2023 at 1:54 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
Poem of the day - October by Louise Glück

poems.com/poem/october...
"October" by Louise Glück
from "Poems 1962-2012" published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
poems.com
October 16, 2023 at 1:58 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
My prose poem “Storm Junked” is in this issue ⛈️
heimatreview.bsky.social Heimat Review @heimatreview.bsky.social · Oct 15
🍂 Step into Issue 5 of Heimat Review! If this issue were a driveway, the magical pieces in it would be paper bag luminaries. And shine they do, in the dark nights and shifting colors of this season. 📖✨

Read it here: https://www.heimatreview.com/issue-5-take-notice.html
Issue 5: Take Notice
Cover art: “ Duality in the Garden ”  by Jacelyn Yap
www.heimatreview.com
October 15, 2023 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Rachel Orta
bethsawin.bsky.social
Peace
is not separate from
climate
is not separate from
water
is not separate from
justice
is not separate from
health
is not separate from
agriculture
is not separate from
oceans
is not separate
from biodiversity
is not separate from
peace
October 15, 2023 at 5:23 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
Poem of the day - Fuck Your Lecture on Craft, My People are Dying by Noor Hindi

The author has asked on X that if you read this poem, you also donate.
Fuck Your Lecture on Craft, My People Are Dying BY NOOR HINDI Colonizers write about flowers. I tell you about children throwing rocks at Israeli tanks seconds before becoming daisies. I want to be like those poets who care about the moon. Palestinians don’t see the moon from jail cells and prisons. It’s so beautiful, the moon. They’re so beautiful, the flowers. I pick flowers for my dead father when I’m sad. He watches Al Jazeera all day. I wish Jessica would stop texting me Happy Ramadan. I know I’m American because when I walk into a room something dies. Metaphors about death are for poets who think ghosts care about sound. When I die, I promise to haunt you forever. One day, I’ll write about the flowers like we own them. Donate Medical Aid for Palestinians is on the ground in Gaza where they are working to stock hospitals with essential drugs, disposables and other healthcare supplies. map.org.uk Palestine Children's Relief Fund is the primary humanitarian organization in Palestine. They deliver crucial, life-saving medical relief and humanitarian aid on the ground. perf.net The World Food Programme has been distributing fresh bread, canned food and ready-to-eat food to those who sought refuge in United Nations Relief and Works Agency shelters in Gaza. wfp.org Doctors Without Borders is providing support to hospitals and health facilities in Gaza. doctorswithoutborders.org UNRWA is providing medical support, trauma relief, and food assistance on the ground in Gaza. unrwausa.org
October 15, 2023 at 4:12 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
Reading The Wild Iris a year and a half ago is what brought me back to poetry. Brought me to a place where I wanted to create, to share, to be inspired and to maybe one day inspire others.
rachelorta.bsky.social Rachel Orta @rachelorta.bsky.social · Oct 13
RIP Louise Glück 💔
October 13, 2023 at 8:05 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
RIP Louise Glück 💔
The Red Poppy The great thing is not having a mind. Feelings: oh, I have those; they govern me. I have a lord in heaven called the sun, and open for him, showing him the fire of my own heart, fire like his presence. What could such glory be if not a heart? Oh my brothers and sisters, were you like me once, long ago, before you were human? Did you permit yourselves to open once, who would never open again? Because in truth I am speaking now the way you do. I speak because I am shattered.
October 13, 2023 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by Rachel Orta
tyler-m.bsky.social
friday the 13th and i've got a new poem/painting/erasure thing up at @havehashad.com 😈
Once Upon a Time by Tyler McAndrew
www.havehashad.com
October 13, 2023 at 2:23 PM
Reposted by Rachel Orta
matthewterrill.bsky.social
Overwhelming grief and rage that my government - the one that claims to represent me - can't be bothered to call for cessation, calm, de-escalation, or delay as we all watch a genocide barreling down the tracks
October 13, 2023 at 1:57 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
Podcast ep for the morning. Is the topic of impermanence spooky enough for Friday the 13th?? 👻
spotify.link/gDRY8LDGRDb
Screenshot of podcast episode from Spotify. Name of the podcast is "the way out is in. Zen and the art of living" and the episode is named "Lessons in Impermanence: How to Handle Life when everything changes."
October 13, 2023 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Rachel Orta
gompart.bsky.social
It's Friday the 13th, so here's a poem about mortality. Be careful out there.
October 13, 2023 at 2:00 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
Poem of the day - What Kind of Times Are These by Adrienne Rich
What Kind of Times Are These BY ADRIENNE RICH There's a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows near a meeting-house abandoned by the persecuted who disappeared into those shadows. I've walked there picking mushrooms at the edge of dread, but don't be fooled this isn't a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else but here, our country moving closer to its own truth and dread, its own ways of making people disappear. I won't tell you where the place is, the dark mesh of the woods meeting the unmarked strip of light— ghost-ridden crossroads, leafmold paradise: I know already who wants to buy it, sell it, make it disappear. And I won't tell you where it is, so why do I tell you anything? Because you still listen, because in times like these to have you listen at all, it's necessary to talk about trees.
October 13, 2023 at 1:58 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
Poem of the day, posting two today - Dream Dust & Dreams, both by Langston Hughes
Dream Dust BY LANGSTON HUGHES Gather out of star-dust Earth-dust, Cloud-dust, And splinters of hail, One handful of dream-dust Not for sale. Dreams BY LANGSTON HUGHES Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow.
October 12, 2023 at 2:12 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
Poem of the day - First Memory by Louise Glück
First Memory, Louise Gluck Long ago, I was wounded. I lived to revenge myself against my father, not for what he was– for what I was: from the beginning of time, in childhood, I thought that pain meant I was not loved. It meant I loved.
October 11, 2023 at 2:47 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
Poem of the day - Memento Mori by Maya C. Popa
Memento Mori Maya C. Popa How much pain should we knowingly invite— the gallery says all, and all at once. Otherwise, why paint or write if not for ends hidden in plain sight? I watch you disappear into the next room knowing, one day, this room will be my life.
October 10, 2023 at 2:16 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
Poem of the day - Foaling Season by Ada Limón
Foaling Season BY ADA LIMÓN 1 In the dew-saturated foot-high blades of grass, we stand amongst a sea of foals, mare and foal, mare and foal, all over the soft hillside there are twos, small duos ringing harmoniously in the cold, swallows diving in and out, their fabled forked tail where the story says the fireball hit it as it flew to bring fire to humanity. Our friend the Irishman drives us in the Gator to sit amongst them. Everywhere doubles of horses still leaning on each other, still nuzzling and curious with each new image. 2 Two female horses, retired mares, separated by a sliding barn door, nose each other. Neither of them will get pregnant again, their job is to just be a horse. Sometimes, though, they cling to one another, find a friend and will whine all night for the friend to be released. Through the gate, the noses touch, and you can almost hear— Are you okay? Are you okay? 3 I will never be a mother. That’s all. That’s the whole thought. I could say it returns to me, watching the horses. Which is true. But also I could say that it came to me as the swallows circled us over and over, something about that myth of their tail, how generosity is punished by the gods. But isn’t that going too far? I saw a mare with her foal, and then many mares with many foals, and I thought, simply: I will never be a mother. 4 One foal is a biter, and you must watch him as he bares his teeth and goes for the soft spot. He’s brilliant, leggy, and comes right at me, as if directed by some greater gravity, and I stand firm, and put my hand out first, rub the long white marking on his forehead, silence his need for biting with affection. I love his selfishness, our selfishness, the two of us testing each other, swallows all around us. Every now and then, his teeth come at me once again; he wants to teach me something, wants to get me where it hurts.
October 9, 2023 at 2:09 PM
rachelorta.bsky.social
Poem of the day - Forever - is composed of Nows by Emily Dickinson

Just an Emily Dickinson type of weekend 🖤
Forever – is composed of Nows BY EMILY DICKINSON Forever – is composed of Nows – ‘Tis not a different time – Except for Infiniteness – And Latitude of Home – From this – experienced Here – Remove the Dates – to These – Let Months dissolve in further Months – And Years – exhale in Years – Without Debate – or Pause – Or Celebrated Days – No different Our Years would be From Anno Dominies –
October 8, 2023 at 9:08 PM