Cleopatra and Frankenstein

by Coco Mellors

being able to tell how giving a person is as a lover by how curious they are. You’re meant to actually count in your head how many questions they ask you in a minute. If they ask four or more, then they like to please.”

Epiphany

did speak, it was a single sentence. When the darkest part of you meets the darkest part of me, it creates light.

Someone say this to me

“No expectations. No preferences. If you prefer one outcome over another in life, you will likely be disappointed.

Philosophy to live by

“He wasn’t around enough to miss. That was what I found the hardest. I wasn’t close to my dad, and then he died. End of story. At least while he was alive, there was this hope that one day that could change. And then that hope was gone, you know? That’s what I grieved, I guess.”

When a book writes your story

“We break. We put ourselves back together. The cracks are the best part. You don’t have to hide them.”

Kintsugi

“Movie, melatonin, and masturbation,”

“Do you know the word humiliate comes from the Latin root humus, which means ‘earth’? That’s how love is supposed to feel.” “Like hummus?” “Like earth. It grounds you. All this nonsense about love being a drug, making you feel high, that’s not real. It should hold you like the earth.”

A group of finches is called a charm.

Doing the most to find all circle of finches

the kitchen. Somewhere, a dog barks. I can feel the night pressing against my skin. It is cold, but I am warm. My breath meets the air.

Clarity

“And you and I didn’t get that, not because we didn’t deserve it, we just got dealt something else. But the people who did get that love, they grew up to be different from us. More secure. Maybe they’re not as shiny or successful as you and I feel we have to be. But it’s not because they’re not interesting. They just don’t feel they have to do the tap dance, you know? They don’t have to prove themselves all the time to be loved. Because they always were.”

Epiphany