Yrsa Daley-Ward's Blog, page 14
March 11, 2014
thiswillnotlast:
what love isn’tIt is not a five star stay. It...
what love isn’t
It is not a five star stay. It is not compliments and it is never ever flattery. It is fact. It is tough, can be hard
and it is definitely not diamonds.
It is solid. It is not sweet but always nutritious, always herb. always salt. Sometimes grit.
It is now and till the end. It is never a slither, never a little
it is a full serving
it is much…too much and real
never pretty or clean. It stinks, you can smell it coming, it is weight…it is weight and it is too heavy to feel good sometimes
…it is discomfort, it is not what the films say. Only songs
get it right
it is irregular
it is difficult
and always, always
surprising.
Yrsa Daley-Ward
March 9, 2014
"You told me I seemed haunted.
It was 3am and you could still smell the storm clouds under my..."
It was 3am and you could still smell the storm clouds under my skin.
You can’t quell depression by making love.
But we tried.
But we tried,
oh, we did.”
- Yrsa Daley-Ward:
March 7, 2014
Just wanted to express that I enjoy your work very much dear, like a sigh in the middle of the page.
That means the world coming from you. Enjoying your poetry all night.
March 2, 2014
"Telling myself,
‘If you’re afraid to write it, it’s a good sign.’
I suppose you know..."
‘If you’re afraid to write it, it’s a good sign.’
I suppose you know you’re writing the truth when you’re terrified.”
- Yrsa Daley-Ward: Telling myself:
"我很高兴见到你
i am happy to have met you
我很高兴认识你
i am happy to have known you
但最后, 没有你我更快乐。
but in..."
我很高兴见到你
i am happy to have met you
我很高兴认识你
i am happy to have known you
但最后, 没有你我更快乐。
but in the end, i am happier without you.
”- 再见 (goodbye)
February 26, 2014
"Boredom
You can fit two thousand four hundred and ninety six
tiny letter a’s on an a4 page
based..."
Boredom
You can fit two thousand four hundred and ninety six
tiny letter a’s on an a4 page
based on fitting four of them firmly into the space of a
centimetre square.
Dad will say, “That’s diligence for you.”
Everyone else will call it a waste of time.
You can fit a whole tube of Smarties in your mouth
while dressing your little brother up in your Sunday best.
Grandma will laugh at the boy in the dress.
Granddad will nearly hit someone.
Your brother will be sent upstairs to change
head bowed in shame.
No one will notice the Smarties.
Mum says 56 bad words on the phone to Jamaica.
She is not impressed when you tell her so.
“Keep out of adult conversations,” she warns,
her mouth growing tight.
The pastor makes twenty-four references to hell
in the sermon at church and forgets to talk
about love. Granddad falls asleep.
If your bible has pictures
you should colour them in and count
how many men in the church wear white socks and black shoes.
Count the bitten fingernails and
how many people cry silently during prayer.
Count the number of cars that afternoon before your mother,
tired and lovely, pulls up on the pavement to collect you.
Count how many people shake their head
at her red nails, her tight jeans.
She looks like a star and they’re jealous.
You can fit the word lonely
four hundred and sixteen times
on the back of that same piece of paper.
Dad will say, “Don’t be silly
your brother will be out of hospital soon.”
Mum will be too stressed to talk.
You will go to live at Grandma’s, spending days
drinking Rooibos out of eggs cups,
studying God’s word and watching the sun.
You will learn to fear
The Most High
also
count how many times the
King James Bible uses the words, thee, thou and thy.
Keep a proper tally. Granddad can play any song on the harmonica.
Test him. He likes to be tested
(until he doesn’t know the answer.)
Then he will get angry
and say things he doesn’t mean.
There are one hundred and twenty seven roses
on the wallpaper in your new room.
There were more than that but you picked some away.
Your brother has been gone now for two months straight and
nobody will tell you anything.
Pink painkillers look like Smarties and
children will be children
so you escaped a beating…just.
Count how many tear drops it takes to make a cup of tea and
how many family friends are praying for you.
There are sixty-four red grapes on the bunch that someone brought.
Eat one after the other, really fast
without stopping.
Maybe you can visit the hospital too.
February 21, 2014
February 17, 2014
"Women who were brought up devout and fearful
Get stirred, like anyone else.
Want men. Want
other..."
Get stirred, like anyone else.
Want men. Want
other women. Stink under the arms at the end of
the day. Get
that all too familiar mix of fear and discontent
in the night. Want to do the things
that they ‘Must Not Do.’
Those dirty, bloody attractive things.”
- Yrsa Daley-Ward: Those things, by Yrsa Daley-Ward
"Hungry. Stomach screaming hungry, I worry about the conversation we haven’t had yet. You know, this..."
-
Impending Dialogue - Freewrite
Yrsa Daley-Ward
(via thiswillnotlast)
"eating magic beans and
dancing till dawn froze me
playing with rocks and snow
just made me hard and..."
dancing till dawn froze me
playing with rocks and snow
just made me hard and cold.”
- Yrsa Daley-Ward ‘temporary measures’
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