fiction
laila & agape
had been raised side-by-side.
Y continued to pay visits to Z as they entered adulthood, and their friendship ripened sweetly. The clarity and frankness of their conversations forged an intimacy between them which far surpassed any intimacy that could exist between man and woman. The complementary nature of their characters gave them a wholeness in each other’s company upon which they came to rely, for comfort and confidance.
Z's cloistering in the Oculeye cooled her heart, giving rise in place of its fire an element of passionate devotion in her relationship to all objects, animate and inanimate. It was with this full absolution that the two girls engaged, transcending the prototypical double-talk and complexly layered social gestures of language.
Y's heart craved the incendiary passions of life, and pursued them, but she could see that Z had a density of life within herself that fulfilled her in her own way. It was not a realm she fully empathized with, because her hearts held no ecosystems. Instead, Y's heart was shaped like a luminous high-beam. It began as a slim flame, growing more saturated over time, feeding on air. Her irises were dense and radiant, those of a person at the height of her personhood. Vibrance at its most vibrant. Color at its most colorful. Each girl felt a sorrow for the other, for the elements of life that she lacked, as well as a pride in the areas where the other shone.
Y brought Z a gift- a silver carving knife, laid into a thin box lined in blue crushed velvet, along with several blocks of burled hardwoods. Like many of their exchanges, the gift was given with little pomp or occasion, and Agape offered her thanks in the form of a warm, upturned glance. Z lifted the knife’s edge delicately and turned over a square of rosewood in her palm. With the knife’s blade she conjured a feathery nestling from the rosewood’s burls, rendering its down with precision. She had the ideal model for her carvings, and she granted, for the first time, the ecosystem within her its own liberty. Rosewood finches were soon flocking alongside oak starlings and pine warblers. Mahogany mockingbirds soon added their songs to the chorus, followed by ebony lyrebirds and orioles of maple.
She placed within them delicate mechanical hearts that beat wooden blood through wooden bones, and lifted them up on wooden wings to the sun.
A+HRRA award summer 2023
The Summer 2023 Arts + Human Rights Research Award will be open to submissions this summer (approx. 14:51 UTC June 21 2023 - 06:50 UTC September 23rd 2023). The topic of the Summer 2023 A+HRRA is AI, Computer Logic, and Human Rights.
th_Eroses, an arts publication www.theroses.xyz, is awarding $100 for a work of artistic / literary research that addresses or concerns human rights in conjunction with this season's topic, AI, Computer Logic, and Human Rights. The term 'research' here is intended to indicate the process of creation, exploration, and discovery, rather than the compiling of archival facts and/or materials, although the compiling of archival facts and/or materials may be a part of the process of exploration and discovery, or a part of the process of shaping the path or direction of discovery. This is intended to be an open-ended premise, to support the range of work that may occur in artists' and writers' unique processes.
From the UN:
"What Are Human Rights? Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination."
https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/human-rights
Successful submissions may, but are not required to, focus on investigative, process-based exploration and material discovery. Successful submissions may couple rigorous (or subjective) analysis with documentation of investigative, process-based exploration and discovery. Submissions do not need to be factual; forms of literary fiction, subjective expression, abstraction, choreography, and/or non-narrative presentations will be considered as well. Submissions in all languages and media are welcomed.
The goal of this award is to amplify artistic voices that inquisitively and critically approach the pressing issues of our time, to create a habitat where a unique form of creative journalism can thrive, and to provide th_Eroses readers with artistic / literary insights into key issues.
Please note: If your work is submitted and selected for the award, you consent to the publication of your submitted work by th_Eroses now and in the future. Not all submissions will win the award; there may be one submission chosen, or multiple submissions, or none of the submissions. Selected submissions will receive an email of acceptance and next steps.
Please submit work to theroses.directors@gmail.com with "Entry: Arts + Human Rights Research Award" in the subject line.