Frankly in Love

by David Yoon

Everyone has loveliness inside if you look carefully. Lots of the world is like this. One time I halved an onion and discovered its rings had squashed one by one to form a perfect heart shape at the core.

If you are so unfortunate as to have no one in your life who can make you laugh, drop everything and find someone. Cross the desert if you must. Because laughter isn’t just about the funny. Laughter is the music of the deep cosmos connecting all human beings that says all the things mere words cannot.

We all just want to love who we want to love.

White people can describe themselves with just American. Only when pressed do they go into their ethnic heritage. Doesn’t seem fair that I have to forever explain my origin story with that silent hyphen, whereas white people don’t. It’s complicated. But simple. Simplicated.

She may call herself European-American, but to most of the world she’s just white. As a member of the majority, she belongs everywhere. As the product of a long, mixed-up heritage, she belongs nowhere.

It feels like we’ve known each other forever already. Maybe this is why people get married? For this cozy feeling? Because I could savor this cozy feeling for a long time.

Saying I love you is the cry of the helpless. All you can do is confess it and hope it shows you mercy.

People who let themselves learn new things are the best kind of people.

At the core, I love Joy because she makes me laugh. A girl who can make you laugh is worth laughing with forever.

Nothing is just any one single thing. In fact, what starts out as one thing can turn out to be something completely different.

“Go do you,” I holler, before she heads toward the bushes again. Joy looks back. Her smile glints in the dark. “What the hell else is there, right?”