15 Comments
User's avatar
Not My Real Name Either's avatar

That was dark. :) refreshing to have all these alternative ideas on here. Love Poe anything. Cant say i agree with most sentiments except i have always thought the last Lovecraft quote at the end was true. Oh, and life is boredom but then thats up to us to make interesting. Many not alive now wish they were. But this is probably why sometimes we wonder what’s the point.especially if there is a lack of spirituality in ones life. Interesting viewpoint on only optimists commit suicide. Will be pondering that one for a long time . Oh and brilliant images!

Expand full comment
Patris's avatar

Well this is epically horrific. More so because who hasn’t thought these things at one time or another? I feel

as if I’m reading Schopenhauer while listening to Mahler.

On the bright side it also makes me inclined to watch “Leprechaun in the Hood” (with Ice Tea) tonight.

Expand full comment
A.D.'s avatar

Some of my politically incorrect favorites in here, including HP "Problematically Named Cat" Lovecraft and Thomas Ligotti. But new discoveries, too, including Emil Cioran. Put a hold on one of his books at the university library here - thanks for introducing him.

My own contribution, from our old pal CG Jung:

"Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness's of other people. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely. Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."

Happy Halloween.

Expand full comment
Salamah's avatar

Oh how dark but true these are! Loved it

Expand full comment
Dave's avatar

This is uplifting in a strange and disturbing way. I love and cherish all of these writers…and more. Happy Halloween 👻

Expand full comment
Matthew T Upston's avatar

Defeatism is just another ism in this worldly schism of isms.

Expand full comment
Poetic Outlaws's avatar

“Pessimism is only the name that men of weak nerves give to wisdom.”

—Bernard DeVoto

Expand full comment
Jorge Albella's avatar

I specially love the easy by Fernando Pessoa...

Expand full comment
Rob McCarthy's avatar

Fantastic selection, both quotes and images. Loved it.

Expand full comment
Fleur Lilliott's avatar

Lovecraft - what an amazing, old school horror writer. You can really see where modern horror writers gather their inspiration from when reading these passages. Brilliant, spooky, and utterly thrilling. A perfect read for Halloween. I also love:

“The lips were as red as ever. But there was no sign of movement, no pulse, no breath, no beating of the heart.” - Bram Stoker, Dracula.

Expand full comment
Bee Gee's avatar

☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️Abandon all hope ye who enter here!!!

Expand full comment
Writer Pilgrim by So Elite's avatar

These were amazingly fit to describe our times. Darkness and boredom a dangerous liaison.

Expand full comment
Patris's avatar

Skip thinking optimists commit suicide. Those I’ve known weren’t, certainly. But yes, great art here.

Expand full comment
BB Borne's avatar

Perfection of darkest confection!

Expand full comment
John Krimitsas's avatar

What better way to start the month than having Lovecraft declare you cosmically insignificant. Amazing selection of writers. Dark and broody, as all things - that time of the year - should be. Reminded me of a passage from the Titan of terror himself:

"The true weird tale has something more than secret murder, bloody bones, or a sheeted form clanking chains according to rule. A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain—a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fixed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space."

Happy Halloween everyone.

Expand full comment