Making pain beautiful
A fetish the mirror reflects
Aestheticised agony
The image that projects
Decorated with poetry
And kept like a secret
It’s cool and mysterious
And you get to keep it
Please fall in love and fix
Worthy of attention
Look at the beautiful mess
Deserving of affection
inspired by musings at Spinning Visions blog
24th Apr 2026 – Shared with Poets and Storytellers United #224 – desserts
Today I’m feeling:
Although I wanted to enjoy sleeping longer I got up and out for coffee. Amy had called during the night, though I couldn’t quite get what was happening. She was at the nightclub and I knew she could take care of herself. She hadn’t made it home but ended up calling and was staying at Aor’s house after some mini escapades. All was well though. Still feeling positive after yesterday.
Today I’m grateful for:
Sichuan hotpot. A new Chinese hotpot shop opened in Bandu so we gave it a go and filled our bellies with delicious burning chilli and peppers. I may be less grateful if I suddenly have to rush to the bathroom during the night. My stomach feels like that may be a possibility.
The best thing about today was:
Reading more of the SNFU book whilst drinking my coffees at Utopia. I’m really enjoying it.
What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?
Tiredness caught up with me for an afternoon nap that I was really reluctant to get up from. I felt like I could just keep sleeping until tomorrow. I will go back to bed soon too, for a stretch of comic book reading first but I will look forward to my sleep and my dreams.
Something I learned today?
Mega Home doesn’t stock fabric spray like Febreeze or the better heavy-duty version I found at Home Pro before.
1994ever 
Quite mysterious – in keeping with the ‘Spinning Visions’ posts.
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Thanks Rosemary and extra thanks for checking out the inspiration 🙏
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Love the way you approach a challenge, think I will pass on the hot peppers. LOL I also enjoy all the updates you share so freely.
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Thanks Helen 🙏
I’m struggling a little with the chili peppers these days too. In fact, it’s mostly the Sichuan peppers that I enjoy in dishes like this.
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I really like how you show someone kind of dressing up their pain and making it look beautiful. That mix of hiding it but also wanting someone to notice and love it feels very real.
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Thanks Suman 🙏
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I love the thought of decorated by poetry – Jae
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Hotpot is a great choice…who says desserts have to be sweet? I’m less clear on the relevance of pain, but suppose the risk of pain is built into love.
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We will all experince pain in our lives one way or another. No matter how you feel about it, it will be there. Let’s try to enjoy it!
The poem and the rest of the text are not particularly connected but there can certainly be some pain associated with chili hotpot!
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Look at the beautiful messDeserving of affection
I like your close, Shaun! So also the tinge of humour that went with it.
Hank
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Cheers Hank 🙏
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I think its a very human thing to try to make some beauty out of the mess we get handed. But there’s always the danger of hiding things that really need to be recognized.
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“Decorated with poetry
And kept like a secret”
I love those lines!
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Glad you enjoyed Sara 🙏
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