The Song of the Sea

I wanted so badly to lie down next to her on the couch, to wrap my arms around her and sleep. Not fuck, like in those movies. Not even have sex. Just sleep together in the most innocent sense of the phrase. But I lacked the courage and she had a boyfriend and I was gawky and she was gorgeous and I was hopelessly boring and she was endlessly fascinating. So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was hurricane.

—Looking For Alaska

The sound of leaves

cracking beneath muddy sneakers

thunders

the deer dash away

quick as lightning

to huddle

somewhere

where mama deer can count heads

and i remember

that sometimes fear

is the static on my coat

because it makes pine needles from that branch

and from this branch come

together

What matters is precisely this; the unspoken at the edge of the spoken.

—Virginia Woolf, from a diary entry dated 21 July 1912 (via violentwavesofemotion)

(via absistus)

gabrielgadfly:

It’s Valentine’s day, so how about a small giveaway?

I’ll give away an autographed print copy of my book of love poems, Ventricle, Atrium to one person who reblogs this post. You must be following me to win, and only one reblog counts. I’ll pick the winner at 8 p.m. Central time.