The Raven's Tale Quotes

“Whenever I’m not writing, time trudges forward with the maddening, mortifying, miserable, morose, moribund pace of a funeral procession.”
― Cat Winters, The Raven's Tale

“All throughout the humid heat of summer, my friends in the West Range view me as their source of entertainment- a theatrical teller of tales in a candlelit room pungent with charcoal, ink, sweat, and booze. But if they look deep into the eyes of the drawings spreading across my new walls, they'll witness what I truly am. They'll learn I'm not just the laughing boy who challenges fellow students to foot races in the Lawn and impresses his professors. They'll understand I'm not the carefree wit they think they know.
I'm lonely. I'm terrified. I'm haunted.
And I could take down every single one of them with a few swift strokes of my pen, for I see the ugliness inside us all.”
― Cat Winters, The Raven's Tale

“We're all nothing more than beautiful young monsters. [...] one small step away from killing each other.”
― Cat Winters, The Raven's Tale

“They all hated that I hailed from the world of the theater"- I lick my right index finger and blot away a smudge on Agnes's cheek- "and yet they loved me and praised me because I entertained them. They devoured my theatricality. But I would give anything- I would sacrifice all my muses, all my intellectual riches- if I could shake off this feeling that I'm always alone- that something is always missing.”
― Cat Winters, The Raven's Tale

“Once upon a midnight frightful," says Edgar, his voice deepening, "'mid a windstorm fierce and spiteful, something wicked and delightful perched outside my chamber door..." He treads closer and softens his tone. "Hush now, listen closely- hear her, sighing sighs of sorrow- fear her. Hush! Her wintry words go clearer. Gentlemen, come meet" -Edgar whisks the door open- "Lenore!”
― Cat Winters, The Raven's Tale

“I want to fly across this earth on ebon wings and see everything with you- everything this world has to offer. Let us drink up the beauty, sing out for all to hear, love like the gods, and immortalize our Helen forevermore.”
― Cat Winters, The Raven's Tale

“After a swift parting embrace, he turns and leaves me standing there with my belongings. I watch him retreat across the Lawn, his pipe smoke curling into the air above his tall umber hat. His tobacco smoke lingers in my nose- the odor of thick leather ledgers, counting-room coins, and candles burnt down to nubs during late-night transactions. The smell of a world in which men worship stacks of money more than their own families and feed the imaginations of their youth to the jaws of the fires burning in their grates.”
― Cat Winters, The Raven's Tale

“Stop treating me like I’m ignorant and delirious. I understand reality all too well—that’s the source of all my pain.”
― Cat Winters, The Raven's Tale

“Yes," I say, for my work is poetry, and I am most certainly paying attention.”
― Cat Winters, The Raven's Tale

“Yes," I saw, for my work is poetry, and I am most certainly paying attention.”
― Cat Winters, The Raven's Tale

“The kindest thing you can do for the dead... is to weave their names into art.”
― Cat Winters, The Raven's Tale

“He can give everyone what they so desperately crave: hope for a life beyond death... Love poems fall out of fashion over time, often turning maudlin in the ears of future listeners. Humans' enjoyment of satire and humor is equally fickle, and epic adventures stop seeming so epic when new heroes accomplish new feats. Yet mortals' fear and bewilderment of death will never die - not as long as people keep dying.”
― Cat Winters, The Raven's Tale