—THEY DON’T LIKE ME WHEN I’M DOWN

 

 

…If you’re going through hell, at least act like you own the place.

 

...You’d be really comfortable here, maybe even astonished, and you’d gawk at the view, the lake, and all that has to offer, but after a few hours, you might see how it can be a prison, if one is not careful.

 

…I’m pretty good at faking it when I need to, which is a lot of the time.

 

...What I don’t need is another referral asking if I’m going to kill myself.

 

…And the times, they are a’changing. Ain’t that the truth?

 

...You’re lucky enough to get one great friend in life. Any more than that, well, it must be magic. I spent the first fourteen years of my life without a friend I could call, “Best.”

 

...Sometimes all it takes is Andy Gibb on an 8-track.

 

…I know this much—I’ve got to stop playing with my food and eat it.

 

…Actually, it’s nothing new. It’s been a long time coming.

 

 …There is a great lesson in running as fast as you can and not getting anywhere. 

 

…Sing when you want and give grace to what you can.

 

…“Touch me, remind me who I am…” Stanley Kunitz

 

…I’m not asleep, but that doesn’t mean I’m awake 

 

…I guess everyone feels a little off-kilter now and then.  Just ask my cerebellum. 

 

…I watched a crow tear off a nest from a tree and frantically stab at it, jutting its shoulders and working the center. I’m pretty sure he ate all of the eggs because when I went outside and got to it, there was just a torn-up nest and a few shells laying on the ground like turquoise flecks of dandruff. It made me a little sad, but then I thought, that’s nature taking its course. 

 

…When you need a friend, is when you find out if you really have one.

 

“Now I live here, another island,

that doesn’t seem like one, but who decides?

My blood was full of them; my brain

bred islands. But that archipelago

has petered out. I’m old.

I’m bored, too, drinking my real tea,

surrounded by uninteresting lumber.”

– Elizabeth Bishop

 

…Sometimes my thoughts are quiet and loud at the same time, but I keep on trying to breathe nonetheless.

 

…I have read my obituary for years now, and I still don’t understand what it all means.

 

…I’m going to have to write differently, think differently, and live differently.

 

…Sometimes what hurts you is also what you need.

 

…Maybe reasonable doubt is a state of mind, the only state of mind there really is. 

 

…It’s hard to forget the things that hurt you, but you can try.

 

…That guy on the boat, fishing, nestling up on the dock, if he gets any closer, he’ll be able to look up inside my nostrils, or my underwear.

 

…A starving person knows the price of food best.

 

…I don’t begrudge anyone from making money, but the first three reported salaries to come for CEO’s in 2023 are $14. Million, $36 million and $81 million. Sorry, but no human being needs to make $81 million in a single year. No way.

 

…It’s awfully hard to dance when you’re crying.

 

…Yeah, I see you, wine glass, smirking on the counter.

 

…If this is all there is, I’ll take it, as long as you’ll let me have it, that little bit of you.

 

…The problem with being a fan is the same as being a lover—your heart just gets stomped on, and most times there are no believable apologies.

 

…I walk each morning, and I watch the seconds tick off, and I think, Fuck that’s my life. And then it’s 30 minutes over. Thirty minutes of my life I’ll never get back.

 

…Hey, Bllll!!! Have a drink for me. And not a short one.