Living-Muses*

“I have seen the graves of those who did not fight fearing they will die.”

You gave me forever within the numbered days, and I’m grateful.

“I want a soulmate who can sit me down, shut me up, tell me ten things I don’t already know, and make me laugh. I don’t care what you look like, just turn me on. And if you can do that, I will follow you on bloody stumps through the snow. I will do your windows. I will care about your feelings. Just have something in there.”

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who are alive.”

“There is only one heart in my body, have mercy on me.”

“We can be knowledgeable with other men’s knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men’s wisdom.”

“To achieve great things, we must be self-confined: mastery is revealed in limitation.”

As I kid, I wanted to be a savior, trailblazer, the prophecy child. I wanted a big life, with ups and ups like the breasts of mountains and lows like the depths of valleys full of forgotten debris. I was convinced the great flood was knocking at my door, beckoning me to become someone bigger. A juvenile fantasy, a hazy dream.

“I’ve found that growing up means being honest. About what I want. What I need. What I feel. Who I am.”

“Promise me not to hide yourself when you’re in pain, it’s unfair that we laughed together but you cried alone”