“Remember it? The setting of magical summers. Wrinkled fingers and toes meant a long day filled with underwater adventures. The place where accomplishment was born: swimming the entire length of the pool without coming up for air. Gasp. Yes, made it! Gasp. The place that gave you the most intense hunger pains you’d ever known. A big plate of food never tasted so good. Seconds? Yes, please. OK, you’re ready to go back in the pool now. You don’t want to wait fifteen minutes for your food to digest. Do I have to, Mom? Fine. Fifteen minutes go by too slow—much slower than the four hours you’ve already been playing in the pool. Back in! Finally. Games. Marco Polo. Colors. No, sun, don’t go away! You need the light. After sunset, the darkness comes, and the darkness transforms the pool into a terrifying black sea swarming with sharks and monsters. How did they get in there? Through the drain, of course. Time to get out and back on land where it’s safe. Brrr! Shivers. You wrap yourself in that huge, soft beach towel. That feels good. Warmth. The couch looks comfortable. Cartoons are on TV. But your energy is gone. The pool took it from you. Your eyelids are heavy… way too heavy. Sleep. The best sleep.”
Saturday, July 5, 2014
— Caitlyn Siehl, “Haunting”
“The fact that we are all immortal.
That is my answer.
The fact that we are born knowing how to haunt.
When they ask me about the miracle
of being human, this is what I will say.
Your chest was the final frontier,
the place I explored with a vengeance
until I found a space to settle down in and call my own.
The fact that we never leave the places
we have been, but instead
tuck them behind our teeth
until we want to remember again.
You are every place.
You are not a place at all.
The fact that I turned myself transparent just to show you where it hurt
and how you howled when you saw the gracelessness of everything inside of me.
I started disappearing on a Sunday.
I pulled a white sheet over my head
and hung over you like a responsibility.
When you asked me what I was doing,
I told you that I was just practising.
Now, darling. Now, we have broken like bone.
I am the quiet in the hallway and the drawer
in your room where I left a pair of my socks.
I am the phone call at 4 a.m that
you’ve learned to ignore.
I am a phantom imprint in the bed
beside you and the miracle of it all is that I could have been anyone’s ghost,
but I wanted to be yours.
I had to be yours.”
That is my answer.
The fact that we are born knowing how to haunt.
When they ask me about the miracle
of being human, this is what I will say.
Your chest was the final frontier,
the place I explored with a vengeance
until I found a space to settle down in and call my own.
The fact that we never leave the places
we have been, but instead
tuck them behind our teeth
until we want to remember again.
You are every place.
You are not a place at all.
The fact that I turned myself transparent just to show you where it hurt
and how you howled when you saw the gracelessness of everything inside of me.
I started disappearing on a Sunday.
I pulled a white sheet over my head
and hung over you like a responsibility.
When you asked me what I was doing,
I told you that I was just practising.
Now, darling. Now, we have broken like bone.
I am the quiet in the hallway and the drawer
in your room where I left a pair of my socks.
I am the phone call at 4 a.m that
you’ve learned to ignore.
I am a phantom imprint in the bed
beside you and the miracle of it all is that I could have been anyone’s ghost,
but I wanted to be yours.
I had to be yours.”
— James Dashner, The Maze Runner
“She smiled for the first time, and he almost had to look away, as if something that nice didn’t belong in such a glum and gray place, as if he had no right to look at her expression.”
She Sleeps
After Richard Siken
You are in bed with a beautiful girl
and she sleeps through all your hallelujahs,
but you keep repeating the word.
You wonder
what you have done to deserve her,
what miracle
came from your hands?
Were you the one
that set the birds free? Were you the one
that fitted new bulbs for all the fireflies?
You must have done something
spectacular. Her mouth is a berry
she keeps letting you pluck.
She invited you here, to feast.
You’re trying not to thank her
for loving you, for existing,
for sleeping beside you.
You swallow down the words,
there is a sob in your throat,
you’re shaking now.
She moves slightly in her sleep,
her head finds the nook of your elbow
and suddenly, fire everywhere.
Suddenly, she has set you alight
and you feel your body burning itself
through the mattress, you feel
the soft melt of her beside you.
You repeat hallelujah
into her hair and the birds
celebrate their freedom.
You are in bed with a beautiful girl
and she sleeps through all your hallelujahs,
but you keep repeating the word.
You wonder
what you have done to deserve her,
what miracle
came from your hands?
Were you the one
that set the birds free? Were you the one
that fitted new bulbs for all the fireflies?
You must have done something
spectacular. Her mouth is a berry
she keeps letting you pluck.
She invited you here, to feast.
You’re trying not to thank her
for loving you, for existing,
for sleeping beside you.
You swallow down the words,
there is a sob in your throat,
you’re shaking now.
She moves slightly in her sleep,
her head finds the nook of your elbow
and suddenly, fire everywhere.
Suddenly, she has set you alight
and you feel your body burning itself
through the mattress, you feel
the soft melt of her beside you.
You repeat hallelujah
into her hair and the birds
celebrate their freedom.
— Unknown
“Everything seems to be exhausting me. No matter how much sleep, how much coffee I drink or how long I lie down, something inside me seems to have given up. My soul is tired.”
You’ve got to follow your passion.
You’ve got to follow your passion. You’ve got to figure out what it is you love—who you really are. And have the courage to do that. I believe that the only courage anybody ever needs is the courage to follow your own dreams
When you got hurt
♣
When you got hurt
It made you beautiful
The cracks around your heart,
They let the light shine through
When you got hurt
In pieces on the floor
You put them back together
Even better than before.
♣
— Idra Novey
“Translator’s Confession, 3 a.m.
Dear C, I dropped
your sentence in hot water.
I talked to the boil. I said Here
is my thumb for you to burn.
Here is the soft heart
of my hand and my arm and
the nape of my wreck.
I said vapor, just take me.
I’m done burning
with these pages. Being invisible
doesn’t mean a person
won’t blister, doesn’t mean
the blisters won’t fill
with pockets of water
or when lanced the rawest flesh
won’t emerge. First the word
then the murky leak
begins—what another mind
may scrape against
but never skin.”
Lessons we can Learn from Steve Jobs
♦
1. You make your own life. Steve Jobs had a tough start in life. He wasn’t born into a privileged family and experienced many serious blows in life. However, instead of complaining or becoming a victim he created the life he wanted to have.2. Life rewards people who dream big dreams. When other people thought things couldn't be changed, he saw this as merely an opportunity to dream big dreams, and to create something new.
3. It doesn’t really matter who you are or where you are. The thing that matters most is that step out and do something! For example, Steve Jobs developed Apple in his parents’ garage, when no-one knew or cared who he was.
4. It’s not only qualifications that matter. According to Jobs (who didn’t finish his degree) perseverance matters more than certification. Of course, having both is an advantage in life but there are lots of billionaires who succeed for other reasons. For example, working hard and being creative are key components, too.
5. Live life to the fullest while you still have breath - As none of us knows when our life will end.
6. Stop listening to others who want to detract you from going for living your life fully, and reaching for your dreams. There are plenty of people who would like to see you fail, or to see you going nowhere, so you make nothing of life. Don’t allow them to detract you from your dream.
7. Don’t underestimate the impact you can have – Steve Job’s ideas and products have transformed the world – and the chances are he had no idea of the influence he would have on society.
8. Follow your passion and do what you love. It’s easier to work, and to persevere, if you’re following your passion and doing what you love. You feel motivated to keep on going, and to do what it takes achieve your best in life.
♦
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