It Shouldn't Have Been Beautiful Quotes

“Red Bird in Snow

You can choose
to stop short -
or have it
not matter
not weigh
the brightness,
not hold
very still
and be
known
to yourself
again.
A thing
fills
with exactly
the radiance
you accord it.”
― Lia Purpura, It Shouldn't Have Been Beautiful

“Proof

That goldfinches favor
yellow blooms
is proof
that sustenance
comes in a form
resembling, pleasing,
not to be fought for,
but found
like bearings
by a light both
given and sought,
that singular glow.”
― Lia Purpura, It Shouldn't Have Been Beautiful

“Each thing’s its own partner, each always both, depending on where you stand,”
― Lia Purpura, It Shouldn't Have Been Beautiful

“Beauty persists. Which, as truths go, complicates all we need to know.”
― Lia Purpura, It Shouldn't Have Been Beautiful

“They’re sliding around in disguise like gods. It’s two in the afternoon. It’s four. You can’t take these hours apart and repair them. Nothing’s wrong with them.”
― Lia Purpura, It Shouldn't Have Been Beautiful

“To sew the blue-burnt edges of a gunshot wound together should require only concentration, training, deftness, ease with systems awry and how to stabilize, but with good tools, sharp blades, bright lights, I’m guessing a material’s qualities become more. Professionals are adept at covering it up, but I’m pretty sure pleasure insists.”
― Lia Purpura, It Shouldn't Have Been Beautiful

“A certain kind comes very fast, but unexpectedly, like a feeling about work on behalf of beauty no one devours: those carrot birds, those radish flowers.”
― Lia Purpura, It Shouldn't Have Been Beautiful