✨PISCES SZN✨

We are in the midst of Pisces season! As the final constellation of the zodiac, Pisces embodies all of the traits of the previous signs. V interesting. Nonetheless, those under the Pisces umbrella are often defined by their creative, intuitive, and highly emotional nature. Let us commemorate this sign by shouting out some artists and gifts.

MYSTIC MUSES: PISCES AUTHORS

This sign claims dominion over the following notable authors: Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, W.H. Auden, W. E. B. Du Bois, Jane Bowles, André Breton, Bret Easton Ellis, Michel Houellebecq, Carson McCullers, Anaïs Nin, Amy Tan, Chuck Palahniuk, Philip Roth, John Steinbeck, David Foster Wallace, and more.

Below you’ll find some information about Edna St. Vincent Millay…

Edna St. Vincent Millay - February 7, 1846:

This New Englander was called “the greatest woman poet since Sappho."* Millay was a contemporary of Robert Frost (Aries) and though her poetry was celebrated throughout the country—she was even the first woman to win a Pulitzer for Poetry in 1923—that was not to be the case once she died as critics focused their attention on her personal life and labelled her work “soggy” and “mediocre.”

Born in Maine, Millay was raised by her divorcee mother. Her early education was unconventional and inspired by New England self-reliance. She read the greats: Shakespeare, Milton, Eliot, etc., etc. And then! Around the age of 20, after entering a poetry competition that garnered significant attention, she was spotted in a bar playing the piano and reciting her poetry by Caroline B. Dow, who insisted on funding her education. Thus, Millay went to Vassar. As Millay was a free-spirit, the school didn’t like her very much and tried to suspend her during her final year but students petitioned and Millay graduated in 1917. While in college, she had many romantic dalliances while writing both poetry and plays.

Post-graduation, Millay moved to Greenwich and got herself involved with the bohemian crowd. She was writing poetry! She was writing plays! And, she was writing commercial fiction under the pseudonym Nancy Boyd!

Though Millay had relationships with both men and women. She married Eugen Jan Boissevain at the age of 31. Bouissevain supported her career and took care of most of the housework. The union seemed amicable and both kept lovers for the entirety of their marriage. (26 years—the marriage ended when he died!)

Her work is notable for mixing modernist ideas with traditional forms while also highlighting the female experience. (“Witch-Wife” (great title) is a fun example of one of her poems.) As she progressed in her career, her work took on a more political nature. However, her political poetry was condemned by the literati. Towards the end of her life there was drug addiction, debt, thoroughbred horse-racing, and a final fall which resulted in her death.

Curious to read more? Here is the Nancy Milford biography, here is her diary, and here are some poems.** I’ve heard the sonnets are divine.

THE ULTIMATE PISCES WISHLIST

Look to the below wishlist as an ideal gift(s) for the water babies in your life.

• Clothes, clothes, clothes:

  • For the literary pisces, how about a Sally Rooney t-shirt or sweatshirt via Girl Parts?***

  • A silver dress from Simone Rocha ideal for a birthday dinner. This would also be a delightful option — not for a wallflower!!!

• A Rimowa cabin bag in the newest hue: Sea Blue. (V piscean, if you ask me.)

• I saw this recommended in some beauty wellness guide and was intrigued. It’s a 30 day age-defying treatment of serums by Bioeffect. It promises to combat: “wrinkles, dryness, roughness, sagginess, and uneven skin tone.”

• Speaking of skincare, I love Muri Lelu and think their Full Flower Ritual are a wonderful addition to one’s beauty regimen. Truly restorative and luxurious.

• Get cozy courtesy of a special edition JW Anderson blanket. Made in collaboration with artist Shawanda Corbett. And, there’s only 60 of these blankets?!

• A fun little PCV bag from Melissa.

• For the anxious ones, how about a stress-relieving pillow that comes in three different sizes?!

*Quote from literary critic Harriet Monroe. Also, I believe Millay was added to my Author Birthday Google Sheet because Alyssa of Nerdy Nurse Reads shared some of Millay’s books in a vlog.
**Not monetized
***Sally Rooney’s bday is Feb 20! And, so is Rihanna’s! Twins!