Always Ask Why

Why I Write

Shakespeare, The Tempest 

Another Voice

The Indifference Death Knell

Quiet Assertion

Why is it we want so badly to memorialize ourselves?
Even while we're still alive?
We wish to assert our existence, 
like dogs peeing on fire hydrants.


- Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin  

Grief That Does Not Speak

The Chain We Forge

"You are fettered," said Scrooge, trembling.

"Tell me why?"

"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost.

"I made it link by link, and yard by yard, 

I girded it on of my own free will, 

and of my own free will I wore it."

-Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol 

Jealousy

O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey'd monster,
which doth mock the meat it feeds on.

-Shakespeare, Othello

Nobody's Perfect

Backdraft

I took a deep breath 
and listened to the old brag of my heart.

I am, I am, I am.

Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar