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Note that even a relatively turbulent meditation still produces benefits, because surges of restlessness usually indicate that the system is cleansing itself of internalized traumas and accumulated stress.
“You write in order to change the world ... if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way people look at reality, then you can change it.”
―
―
“It becomes more and more difficult to avoid the idea of black men as subjects of not just racial profiling but of an insidious form of racial obliteration sanctioned by silence.”
― Illuminated Corners: Collected Essays and Articles Volume I.
― Illuminated Corners: Collected Essays and Articles Volume I.
“My cousins are hurting. My aunt is hurting. My mother is hurting. And there is no one here to help. How is this the good life, when even the air in this place threatens to wrap its fingers around my throat? In Haiti, with all its problems, there was always a friend or a neighbor to share in the misery. And then, after our troubles were tallied up like those points at the basketball game, we would celebrate being alive. But here, there isn’t even a slice of happiness big enough to fill up all these empty houses, and broken buildings, and wide roads that lead to nowhere and everywhere. Every bit of laughter, every joyous moment, is swallowed up by a deep, deep sadness.”
― American Street
― American Street
“I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do. And by the grace of God, I will.”
―
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“Failing and Flying"
Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.
It's the same when love comes to an end,
or the marriage fails and people say
they knew it was a mistake, that everybody
said it would never work. That she was
old enough to know better. But anything
worth doing is worth doing badly.
Like being there by that summer ocean
on the other side of the island while
love was fading out of her, the stars
burning so extravagantly those nights that
anyone could tell you they would never last.
Every morning she was asleep in my bed
like a visitation, the gentleness in her
like antelope standing in the dawn mist.
Each afternoon I watched her coming back
through the hot stony field after swimming,
the sea light behind her and the huge sky
on the other side of that. Listened to her
while we ate lunch. How can they say
the marriage failed? Like the people who
came back from Provence (when it was Provence)
and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.
I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,
but just coming to the end of his triumph.”
― Refusing Heaven
Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.
It's the same when love comes to an end,
or the marriage fails and people say
they knew it was a mistake, that everybody
said it would never work. That she was
old enough to know better. But anything
worth doing is worth doing badly.
Like being there by that summer ocean
on the other side of the island while
love was fading out of her, the stars
burning so extravagantly those nights that
anyone could tell you they would never last.
Every morning she was asleep in my bed
like a visitation, the gentleness in her
like antelope standing in the dawn mist.
Each afternoon I watched her coming back
through the hot stony field after swimming,
the sea light behind her and the huge sky
on the other side of that. Listened to her
while we ate lunch. How can they say
the marriage failed? Like the people who
came back from Provence (when it was Provence)
and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.
I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,
but just coming to the end of his triumph.”
― Refusing Heaven
Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon
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— last activity May 19, 2022 09:32AM
Our 2022 Reverse Readathon will start at 8pm July 22 and run through 8pm July 23. Our 2022 Fall Readathon will begin at 8am October 22, and end 8am Oc ...more
Bryan’s 2021 Year in Books
Take a look at Bryan’s Year in Books. The good, the bad, the long, the short—it’s all here.
3,201 books
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24 friends
2,018 books
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701 friends
2,111 books
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434 friends
1,383 books
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854 friends
5,931 books
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388 friends
6,506 books
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2,906 friends
1,022 books
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598 friends
3,108 books
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19 friends
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