The HE/ART of A Bold & Energetic Spring
Welcome to my he/art page where I will spontaneously share snippets of my heart and art throughout spring—like spilling out my purse on occasion.
I felt the need for an ADHD space to share the off-beat, weird, and wacky things that come to mind on a whim. Check back regularly as updates will be ongoing. Maybe an Aries Season playlist is added one day, a handwritten poem inspired by a Gemini dog the next, a new spring product I’m obsessing over, a micro review of a movie/book I loved (or hated), or a more personal share like a picture from an outing with friends.
Whatever it is, it will doubtless have an astrological association or seasonal flare, but mostly it’s a space to share my less mystical, regular gal, side—a little piece of me.
AN ARIES SEASON PLAYLIST
Here’s a sneak peek into my spring with an Aries Season playlist that’s still growing. I curate playlists each zodiac season, living my life to music. Sometimes they fill with songs from movies or friend recommendations. I love exploring new albums but aim to capture songs that match my current vibe.
Aries Season taps into motivation and rising energy, so I’ve included lots of upbeat songs. Mars, the ruler of this season, is in soulful Cancer and in a liminal space in its synodic period, adding hints of nostalgia and songs (new and old) with an 80s vibe.
I’ve been intrigued by Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco, a new artist power couple releasing an album together. Selena isn’t usually my go-to, but their energy has a lovely quirky vibe that fascinates me. I went down the rabbit hole, exploring Benny’s music. He is responsible for producing so many of our 2010’s pop hits. I've been enjoying exploring his music print.
Lady Gaga also released new music, and I’ve been enjoying some records with a Madonna-esque vibe. A few random tracks have added an overall energetic-nostalgia tone to the playlist.
Enjoy!
Allie
Here are some spring poems that I’ve been mulling over:
-
A Pang is more
Conspicuous in Spring
In contrast with the
those—
things that sing
Not birds entirely — but
Minds — Minute Effulgen—
and Winds — — cies
When what they sung
for is undone
who cares about
a Blue Bird’s tune —
why, Ressurection
had to wait
Till they had moved
a stone —
This was written on a scrap of an envelope found in Emily’s belongings. She only published a handful of her poems while alive, anonymously. I’ve always been fascinated by her soulful sight and wonder, because she wasn’t trying to be published or famous, if less performance and more soul is in her work than if it had been the other way around. The Gorgeous Nothings is a beautiful coffee table book I inherited from my poet friend Anne Marie Vivienne when she moved a couple of years ago. It’s become one of my favorite little treasures.
-
The wind is a horse:
hear how he runs
through the sea, through the sky.
He wants to take me: listen
how he roves the world
to take me far away.
Hide me in your arms
just for this night,
while the rain breaks against sea and earth
its innumerable mouth.
Listen how the wind
calls to me galloping
to take me far away.
With your brow on my brow
with your mouth on my mouth
our bodies tied
to the love that consumes us
let the wind pass
and not take me away.
Let the wind rush
crowned with foam,
let it call to me and seek me
galloping in the shadow,
while I, sunk
beneath your big eyes,
just for this night
shall rest, my love.- Pablo Neruda
I read one of the most magical books, The Dreamer by Pam Muñoz Ryan, in my Children’s Literature class a few years ago. It’s a fictional telling of Neruda’s childhood. While there is some controversy around his treatment of women, I can’t not recommend this book, even to adults. Magical realism meets biography meets poetry meets illustrations meets literature at its finest. Let the mind of little Neftalí (Pablo’s birth name) transport you.
As for the spring association with this poem… One of the seasonal systems I follow is the Celtic Wheel of the Year. There are directional influences associated with its eight seasons. The Spring Equinox falls at the center of the East direction, with air (hence wind) being the related element. It’s a time to start moving mind and matter, spreading energy, breath, and ideas.
A Taurus Season Shift
Here is my slowly growing Taurus Season playlist. It’s filled with a random smattering of songs, mostly from films I’ve been enjoying, especially around vampire themes. More on that further down….
Sinners, the movie, and a vampire rabbit hole
This film had been subtly showing up in the background of my life—ads, passing mentions on Instagram, a few passionate nods on podcasts. The kind of thing that usually goes in one ear and out the other. I’m not sure what shifted, but one day I suddenly felt compelled to look into this horror flick—a genre I don’t typically gravitate toward.
Almost immediately, I stumbled upon an interview with the writer-director, Ryan Coogler, and I was hooked. It wasn’t even the plot that drew me in—it was how he spoke about the art of the film. I still didn’t fully understand what it was about, but I learned that it had been shot specifically for IMAX and that the theatrical run was almost over. So I dragged my husband out one night, and I’m so glad we got to see it the way it was meant to be experienced.
I’m not here to do a full review—just to say: go see it. The immersion into a specific world is stunning. Every detail makes you feel transported to another time and place—the deep South of the Mississippi Delta during the Jim Crow era. While it was marketed as horror, I wouldn’t call it that exactly. It’s more of a genre blend—something that bends categories in a way that makes you feel both unsettled and deeply drawn in.
What struck me most was the theme of vampires. The way it was handled gave the impression it could’ve been based on a true story. And if I’d never been to New Orleans, another deep South locale, I might’ve brushed off that notion. But something about the film tapped into a sensation I’d had when visiting the South—a sense of eerie, lingering energy. Could vampires be real?
If you’d told me six years ago—before that trip—that I’d ever consider such a thing, I would’ve laughed. I’d never even heard of people seriously believing in them. But once I was in New Orleans, I felt it. I still don’t believe in vampires exactly, but I understood how someone could. There’s a particular energy there—odd, otherworldly—that stays with you.
To make it even weirder, right after watching the movie, I started a TV series I thought was about witches (A Discovery of Witches), and it turned out to be filled with vampires, too. Suddenly, they were everywhere. A whole rabbit hole opened up, sparked by how Sinners portrayed them. It felt like this was how vampire stories should be told. We’ve grown so used to the trope of sexy, seductive vampires that I hadn’t really questioned it before. But Sinners hit me hard—vampires are archetypes that drain your power. Why, then, do we keep making them so alluring?
It made me think about New Orleans again, and the South more broadly. Could the lingering vampire energy I felt be connected to history—the legacy of slavery, of lives drained and exploited? Is that vampiric quality embedded in the land itself?
I don’t have a profound conclusion. I’m probably just catching up to ideas others have explored for years. But this rabbit hole led me to a conversation with ChatGPT. What came out of it helped me better understand the archetype of the vampire and why we sometimes glamorize something that, at its core, represents the theft of vitality and power. I’ll share a condensed version of what came up:
Vampires do symbolize entities that drain life, power, or autonomy, yet they’ve become iconic symbols of seduction, mystery, and erotic power. Here’s why people often find them sexy, despite (or because of) their parasitic nature:
1. The Allure of Danger
Vampires embody forbidden desire. They are usually framed as seductive but deadly—creating a thrill. This taps into the human fascination with danger, especially when it’s cloaked in charm or beauty.
2. Power and Control
Vampires are often portrayed as immortal, confident, and powerful. That can be attractive to people who crave protection, dominance, or even to explore surrender in a safe (fantasy) space.
3. Intimacy and Penetration Metaphor
The act of being bitten is often framed erotically—intimate, invasive, and transformative. It mirrors sexual penetration, but with deeper stakes (literally and metaphorically).
4. Eternal Youth and Beauty
Vampires are often depicted as eternally young and physically perfect, which appeals to deep-seated cultural ideals around beauty and immortality.
5. Repressed Desires
In Victorian literature (and even today), vampires are a way to explore taboo desires—sexuality, death, submission, queer longing—under a supernatural guise. They embody the tension between repression and indulgence.
6. Psychic Symbolism
Jungian and mythic interpretations often see vampires as shadow figures—representing disowned parts of ourselves (like our own capacity to take, desire, or dominate). Eroticizing them is one way the psyche integrates shadow.
So yes—they steal life, but they also promise transformation, ecstatic release, and mystery. That’s a potent cocktail for the imagination.
Gemini Season Tunes
This season has been a slow one for me. I don’t have little personal anecdotes to share as I’ve been quiet with an ear infection, and then tinnitus as a result. Even so, a few songs popped up in my orbit that I enjoyed and populated into a playlist for the seaosn. In particular, a rediscovery of Caroline Polachek was fun.
