I relate so very, very strongly to Sei Shonagon, even though my writing is much more… maximalist than hers.

because I, too, put meaning and connection and wordplay into every part of what I write

AND I’ve got her same two warring inner demons: “Make it subtle, so it takes effort to understand!” and “I will be fuckin pissed off if people do not understand!”

I think if Sei Shonagon could see the present day she’d be: 1. THRILLED that biographers are analyzing and annotating her poetry a thousand years later but also 2. ENRAGED at how many of her brilliant clever little insights are going over everyone’s stupid head (because y'know a thousand years does wear away a lot of context)

….Anyway I want my stuff to be analyzed a thousand years from now just like Sei Shonagon

Yes, even the bullshit I shared only with all the pervy furries on discord

Oh, Artica is a delectable gal
Like Krystal and all of the rest
But you'll find if you query
Am aeroplane furry
That hookers in hangars are best.
The loveliest things
Have noses and wings
But no feathers or fur on my mate
The ultimate whore
Comes from Rule 34
And my escort's a P-38.

“This verse should not be taken to indicate that [Tiliquain] was an anthropomorphic airplane fetishist, though such fetishists did exist in her circle of acquaintances. The poem was partially, though not entirely, intended to poke fun at them; its primary purpose was a display of wordplay skills. The names Artica and Krystal are believed to be popular anthropomorphic animal characters, contrasted against the airplane characters whom her friends may have fetishized. In the 20th and 21st centuries ‘hooker,’ 'whore’ and 'escort’ were all in use as terms for sex workers, and the poem plays on all three in different ways, imagining anthropomorphic airplanes (including the World War II fighter jet Lockheed P-38) performing sex work. The first stanza pairs 'hooker’ with 'hangar’ to evoke the latter’s meaning as a building to store airplanes, as well as its similarity to 'hanger,’ a type of hook (for hanging clothes). In the second stanza, 'rule 34’ refers to the contemporary joke that the internet makes pornography of all things, and serves as both a rhyme for 'whore’ and a mirror to the '38’ in the airplane’s name. Meanwhile, 'escort’ refers to the military terminology of an escort of fighter jets, and calls attention to the fact that this poem is also a parody, closely following the rhythm, rhyme and wording of the World War II soldiers’ poem 'An Escort of P-38’s.’ This reference would have been particularly striking to the maybe 2 or 3 people in her audience familiar with that poem, which was written at least 50 fucking years before any of them were born.”

(Yes I want my biographer to dunk on the obscurity of my nerdness, that is the DREAM)