--YOU GOTTA KNOW THAT IS REAL, BABY, WHY YOU WANNA FIGHT IT? IT’S THE ONE THING YOU CAN’T CHOOSE

 

Verbal Minutia 

 

“You should get a job.”

“I mean a real job.”

“What’ve you got to complain about?”

“You’ve got everything.”

“You stand to lose a lot.”

“Why do you settle all the time?

“Being lucky doesn’t mean you’re smart.”

“Maybe you should think about teaching.”

“Maybe you could try harder.”

“Maybe there’s a reason your friends are all far away.”

“You’re writing? In other words, you’re not doing anything.”

“Don’t be such a moody bastard.”

“Your insecurities are not only trivial, they’re boring as fuck.”

“At least you have your health.  For now anyway.”

“One-forty or one-thirty--they’re the perfect weight for you.”

“When are you going to get a real book published?”

“If it’s not at Barnes and Noble, it doesn’t exist.”

“Nobody reads poetry.  Never have, never will.”

“Wake up; Blockbuster and blogs are things of the past.”

“You should consider re-retiring.”

“Stop blow-drying your hair. People see what they want to see.”

“I can see you’re a little uncertain about most things.”

“No one told you you had to be a writer.”

“You make so many things up, how do I know when to believe you?”

“Therapy.  Now, that’s a good call.”

“Just listen to yourself.”

“If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?”

“When you wake up tomorrow, you get to start all over.”

“Remember: today is the first day of the rest of your life.”

“Here’s a question you should always ask: ‘Is it worth it?’”

 “If your drug is other people’s happiness, what do you do when no one’s there?”

“Someday you’ll figure out a different approach.”

“Someday the words will be someone else’s and they’ll sound prettier.”

“You’re up late again, or early, depending on how you look at it.”

“You should try more sleeping pills, a fistful perhaps.”

“Maybe a hammer to the head will work.”

“Dead people don’t dream. They also have no worries.”

 “Look on the bright side, history has shown it doesn’t rain every day.”

“You should think about why you think so much.   It can’t be healthy.”