“ Don’t be ashamed that your parents
Didn’t happen to meet at an art exhibit
Or at a protest against a foreign policy
Based on fear of negotiation,
But in an aisle of a discount drugstore,
Near the antihistamine section,
Seeking relief from the common cold.
You ought to be proud that even there,
Amid coughs and sneezes,
They were able to peer beneath
The veil of pointless happenstance.
Here is someone, each thought,
Able to laugh at the indignities
That flesh is heir to. Here
Is a person one might care about.
Not love at first sight, but the will
To be ready to endorse the feeling
Should it arise. Had they waited
For settings more promising,
You wouldn’t be here,
Wishing things were different.
Why not delight at how young they were
When they made the most of their chances,
How young still, a little later,
When they bought a double plot
At the cemetery. Look at you,
Twice as old now as they were
When they made arrangements,
And still you’re thinking of moving on,
Of finding a town with a climate
Friendlier to your many talents.
Don’t be ashamed of the homely thought
That whatever you might do elsewhere,
In the time remaining, you might do here
If you can resolve, at last, to pay attention.
— Carl Dennis, “Drugstore”
Tags:
love, and all its clutter
poetry
quotes
life
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“ What is loss? Loss is a poison, like mercury of ergot, the kind that makes you crazy while it kills you. It makes your vision double, makes you live inside wishes and memories. Clamoring vainly to replace what is with what was. It makes you sensitive to light of what is. Reality burns your skin. You flinch from that light. You flee it.
Loss transforms love into grief in a painful, wild alchemy. And grief is an animal that grabs onto you and refuses to let go. It wraps itself around you, smothers you, suffocates you. You try to push it away. But it just comes back with a vengeance. Screaming at you over and over about what you’ve lost. And the worst part is, there’s no way to kill it. No way even to keep it at bay.
Grief’s only weakness is time.
I would have said, ‘Grief’s only weakness is love,’ but I don’t think I could say it with a straight face. We all know that love can do as much harm as good. After all, love is what makes us grieve in the first place.
— Matthew Sturges, House of Mystery: Under New Management
Tags:
love, and all its clutter
quotes
comics
House of Mystery
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