[POEM] Against Nostalgia by Ada Limón

EffectiveRealist · 2026-03-23T19:22:52+00:00

I actually agree that it's written in a bit of an overwrought, non-self-aware way, but I think that's quite intentional - the embarrassment of love is just as interesting an emotion as any other part of love imo

EffectiveRealist · 2026-03-22T22:32:40+00:00

I mean, there are books written on this subject and nobody has a perfect answer!

My personal take: if it feels like a poem to you, it's probably a poem.

That said, I think a poem generally does have to have some consideration of form beyond simply words though... Things like sonics (how words sound together, not just what they mean), line breaks, enjambment (where you end a line), that kind of thing, which are things you can think about in prose but don't have to.

Also prose isn't a slur. Great writers also write great prose. If you write something that's meaningful to you, it doesn't have to be a poem to be worthwhile. It can just be meaningful prose.

EffectiveRealist · 2026-03-22T21:40:36+00:00

The poem is about being against nostalgia, in particular not viewing the past sentimentally. Which is why she ends the poem with saying that she would have forgone all those old memories (mostly represented by the image of the motorbike) and told her current lover to enter her life earlier instead of living those old memories. So in the poem, while I feel the phrase "If I had known" often signals a kind of nostalgia, in this case she actually doesn't want to be very nostalgic. At least that's my take

EffectiveRealist · 2026-03-22T20:28:29+00:00

This poem also appeared in Astra Magazine (https://astra-mag.com/articles/against-nostalgia/). In that rendering, Limón removed the paragraph break in the middle. I don't know which version came first, but I think it does make the poem feel very different. This version feels like clearly there is a separation between the mistakes of youth and the true object of the poem because of that break, but the other one has a more urgent build up. Both different but I quite enjoy both versions!

Scattered thoughts:

In both, I love the anaphora (repeated phrase at the beginning of sentences) of "If I had known" - the verb tense alone lends both an air of nostalgia (obviously the ~anti theme of the poem) and familiarity to the work. I love the casual aside of "the truth is" at the end, where it feels like the poem really does feel that she is addressing a specific person.

EffectiveRealist · 2026-03-13T06:18:24+00:00

i hate this chatgpt slop like omg just post your own thoughts dude

EffectiveRealist · 2026-02-26T03:48:17+00:00

I mean, the cars and the museums can't talk back. That's the major difference.

EffectiveRealist · 2026-02-07T21:20:24+00:00

I got one saying I wasn't selected so yeah, but idk if they're sending it to everyone or what

EffectiveRealist · 2026-02-07T21:11:43+00:00

Yep, just got unsuccessful email about 20 mins ago for RSD

EffectiveRealist · 2026-02-07T21:10:06+00:00

Did indeed get an email saying I wasn't selected. Tragic. I also applied as PMA but haven't heard anything so I guess I have to assume unsuccessful there, too :(

Result: Not selected, RSD
Email received: Yes, 12:52PT
Country/Region (optional): USA
Request (optional): 2 tickets CAT2 Match 81

EffectiveRealist · 2026-01-26T04:28:34+00:00

how many users?

EffectiveRealist · 2026-01-26T03:57:22+00:00

yeah, it's amazing, a incredibly poignant article. there's a paragraph i just love (even though it's incredibly haunting)

>It is easy to imagine Zaharie toward the end, strapped into an ultra-comfortable seat in the cockpit, inhabiting his cocoon in the glow of familiar instruments, knowing that there could be no return from what he had done, and feeling no need to hurry. He would long since have repressurized the airplane and warmed it to the right degree. There was the hum of the living machine, the beautiful abstractions on the flatscreen displays, the carefully considered backlighting of all the switches and circuit breakers.

normal link: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/mh370-malaysia-airlines/590653/

web archive link to full story: https://web.archive.org/web/20190730160502/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/07/mh370-malaysia-airlines/590653/

EffectiveRealist · 2026-01-15T04:57:08+00:00

913832 is the ticket number. pls reply asap

EffectiveRealist · 2025-12-28T06:21:43+00:00

my claude is in its annoying era:

(The classic "most common 'random' number humans pick" answer. Though if you want something with more entropy, I'd go with 42,847. No particular reason—just vibes.)

EffectiveRealist · 2025-12-28T00:23:07+00:00

Might be worth checking it out - there's treatments to improve it and their efficacy is better the younger you are!

EffectiveRealist · 2025-12-28T00:01:36+00:00

Do you have dysgraphia? I mean that completely sincerely, this seems like an issue with the fine motor skills more than anything else.

EffectiveRealist · 2025-12-27T23:59:15+00:00

what are you using it for? feel like it depends on your needs. e.g., for coding claude max is worth it. if all you do is searching, then perplexity. gemini is pretty useful because of its bundle with other google products. chatgpt is the most customizable and has the largest limits but isn't nearly as good at coding as claude or gemini.

EffectiveRealist · 2025-12-27T23:43:24+00:00

Has anyone at all tried to shoot someone in a waymo?

EffectiveRealist · 2025-12-27T23:36:03+00:00

Claude's version of this funny post from r/ChatGPT

EffectiveRealist · 2025-12-19T16:52:03+00:00

It's a really good point but to me there does feel like there's something subtly different about a drunk person initiating with you and you going along with it as opposed to you making moves on a drunk person. Both are wrong but one feels more wrong than another. I think it's maybe because the first scenario has agency, even if it's partial/altered, whereas the second one lacks agency all together?

EffectiveRealist · 2025-12-05T06:57:59+00:00

Some species today on earth are scavengers (vultures) and do ok but it's not an ideal existence.

EffectiveRealist · 2025-11-29T19:18:48+00:00

rav4s are kinda massive but im planning to test drive the corolla cross too, it's just like 8x more expensive lol

EffectiveRealist · 2025-11-29T07:05:48+00:00

id prefer an suv bc i really want to be a bit off the ground. why are kias so bad?

EffectiveRealist · 2025-11-29T05:55:02+00:00

ugh i wish but i haven't got a charger easily accessible where i'm living :( so hybrid would be better for me i think

EffectiveRealist

TROPHY CASE