William Goldman, "The Princess Bride"
My voice in your ear will tell you that you were meant to die
like this, a beautiful and inelegant dive onto a field of reds,
some bright and sun-kissed, some dark and pulp-dashed,
your and our blood across the burnt-orange schist.See, O, see what I have done.
I fear neither the sight of nor the word for blood.— Sumita Chakraborty, from “Marigolds,” Arrow
“I was not the woman who breaks into pieces under the blows of abandonment and absence, who goes mad, who dies. Only a few fragments had splintered off, for the rest I was well. I was whole, whole I would remain. To those who hurt me, I react giving back in kind. I am the queen of spades, I am the wasp that stings, I am the dark serpent. I am the invulnerable animal who passes through fire and is not burned.”— Elena Ferrante, from Days of Abandonment (Translated by Ann Goldstein)
You were a person with a body, and flaws,
and sometimes you were unkind,
as was I. And worse,
you loved me,
and had always seen these things.— Rebecca Hazelton, from “Late Youth,” published in Queen Mob’s Tea House
"I don’t believe in good
I am a fiend for everything."
-Nadia de Vries, from “A Table For None,” published in Queen Mob’s Tea House
(via lifeinpoetry)
I am a fiend for everything."
-Nadia de Vries, from “A Table For None,” published in Queen Mob’s Tea House
(via lifeinpoetry)
"
-Catherynne M. Valente, from “A Silver Splendour, A Flame,“ published in Goblin Fruit (via lifeinpoetry)
Truth is:
I was always that kind of girl.
Truth is:
they don’t make dresses any whiter than
mine.
Truth is:
I am not Demeter’s daughter.
I am Heisenberg’s ripe tomato
I am Niels Bohr’s piece on the side.
In the winter I am a particle.
In the summer I am a wave.
And I didn’t get to be queen of hell
by letting folks off easy.
-Catherynne M. Valente, from “A Silver Splendour, A Flame,“ published in Goblin Fruit (via lifeinpoetry)
"Brutal to love,
more brutal to die.
And brutal beyond the reaches of justice
to die of love."
-Louise Glück, from The Queen Of Carthage
(via violentwavesofemotion)
more brutal to die.
And brutal beyond the reaches of justice
to die of love."
-Louise Glück, from The Queen Of Carthage
(via violentwavesofemotion)
"And we are magic talking to itself,
noisy and alone. I am queen of all my sins
forgotten. Am I still lost?
Once I was beautiful. Now I am myself…"
-Anne Sexton; “You, Doctor Martin” (via everylivinglion)
noisy and alone. I am queen of all my sins
forgotten. Am I still lost?
Once I was beautiful. Now I am myself…"
-Anne Sexton; “You, Doctor Martin” (via everylivinglion)
Make my body a wasteland—
nuclear. uninhabitable, but still
warm. Make my body an island
with no castaways, a national
forest, a chorus of knives.
Make me an empire
unto myself, a subjectless queen.
A bottomless pit. A road
with no end.— Cassandra de Alba, “unlovable hands,” published in so chill anxiety
"
-Wisława Szymborska; “The Three Oddest Words”; translated by S. Barańczak and C. Cavanagh (via clavicola)
When I pronounce the word Future,
the first syllable already belongs to the past.
When I pronounce the word Silence,
I destroy it.
When I pronounce the word Nothing,
I make something no non-being can hold.
-Wisława Szymborska; “The Three Oddest Words”; translated by S. Barańczak and C. Cavanagh (via clavicola)
"Knowing that everything comes to an end is a gift of experience, a consolation gift for knowing that we ourselves are coming to an end. Before we get it we live in a continuous present, and imagine the future as more of that present. Happiness is endless happiness, innocent of its own sure passing. Pain is endless pain."
-Tobias Wolff; “This Boy’s Life: A Memoir” (via lifeinpoetry)
-Tobias Wolff; “This Boy’s Life: A Memoir” (via lifeinpoetry)
"Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future."
-David Mitchell; “Cloud Atlas” (via petrichour)
-David Mitchell; “Cloud Atlas” (via petrichour)
"Suddenly she realized that what she was regretting was not the lost past but the lost future, not what had not been but what would never be."
-F. Scott Fitzgerald, "A Nice Quiet Place“ (via perfect)
-F. Scott Fitzgerald, "A Nice Quiet Place“ (via perfect)
"This is what you do. You make a future for yourself out of the raw material at hand."
-Michael Cunningham, “A Home at the End of the World” (via lifeinpoetry)
-Michael Cunningham, “A Home at the End of the World” (via lifeinpoetry)
"
-Kenneth Rexroth, from ”Air and Angels: This Night Only,” The Collected Shorter Poems (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2003)
Darling darling darling
The future is long gone by
And the past will never happen
We have only this
Our one forever
"-Kenneth Rexroth, from ”Air and Angels: This Night Only,” The Collected Shorter Poems (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2003)