“I am living. I remember you.”
― Marie Howe, quote from What the Living Do: Poems
“WHAT THE LIVING DO
Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days, some utensil probably fell down there.
And the Drano won't work but smells dangerous, and the crusty dishes have piled up
waiting for the plumber I still haven't called. This is the everyday we spoke of.
It's winter again: the sky's a deep, headstrong blue, and the sunlight pours through
the open living-room windows because the heat's on too high in here and I can't turn it off.
For weeks now, driving, or dropping a bag of groceries in the street, the bag breaking,
I've been thinking: This is what the living do. And yesterday, hurrying along those
wobbly bricks in the Cambridge sidewalk, spilling my coffee down my wrist and sleeve,
I thought it again, and again later, when buying a hairbrush: This is it.
Parking. Slamming the car door shut in the cold. What you called that yearning.
What you finally gave up. We want the spring to come and the winter to pass. We want
whoever to call or not call, a letter, a kiss--we want more and more and then more of it.
But there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the window glass,
say, the window of the corner video store, and I'm gripped by a cherishing so deep
for my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned coat that I'm speechless:
I am living. I remember you. ”
― Marie Howe, quote from What the Living Do: Poems
“Anything I’ve ever tried to keep by force I’ve lost.”
― Marie Howe, quote from What the Living Do: Poems
“the bridge appears when you walk across it—that”
― Marie Howe, quote from What the Living Do: Poems
“Soon I will die, he said, and then what everyone has been so afraid of for so long will have finally happened, and then everyone can rest.”
― Marie Howe, quote from What the Living Do: Poems
“I had no idea that the gate I would step through to finally enter this world would be the space my brother’s body made.”
― Marie Howe, quote from What the Living Do: Poems
“What happened in our house taught my brothers how to leave, how to walk down a sidewalk without looking back.”
― Marie Howe, quote from What the Living Do: Poems
“even if I could go back in time to her as me, the age I am now she would never come into my arms without believing that I wanted something.”
― Marie Howe, quote from What the Living Do: Poems
Marie Howe
Born place: in Rochester, New York, The United States
Born date January 1, 1950
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“Wilderness areas are first of all a series of sanctuaries for the primitive arts of wilderness travel, especially canoeing and packing. I suppose some will wish to debate whether it is important to keep these primitive arts alive. I shall not debate it. Either you know it in your bones, or you are very, very old.”
― Aldo Leopold, quote from A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There
“Henry dropped his voice to a horrifed, but confused, whisper. "A knife? Or a dagger?" ... Vlad wrinkled his forehead in uncertainty. "What's the difference?"Henry shrugged as if it were obvious. "One's for eating; one's for stabbing.”
― Heather Brewer, quote from Tenth Grade Bleeds
“USE COMMON SENSE. If somebody offers you a thousand dollars for this book, chances are their motives are not pure. Then again, a thousand dollars is a lot of money. Take the money and run.”
― Pseudonymous Bosch, quote from This Isn't What It Looks Like
“Three questions,” I said, ticking them off on my fingers as I spoke. “One: do you have a car? Two: do you have plans tonight? And three: how fast can you drive?”
― Jennifer Lynn Barnes, quote from Taken by Storm
“Her eyes will hold your eyes captive, and she’ll take the air out your lungs with just a smile. Her laugh, well shit……. her laugh will drive you mad and you will try to do everything under the sun to hear it as much as you can. Her tears will rip your heart out, especially if you caused ‘em. Just the sound of her voice will drive you mad. When you find that girl boys, you found love. Not lust….but true love. You’ll have found the girl who you’ll spend the rest of your life loving, taking care of and just trying to make her so goddamn happy that you would gladly die doing it.”
― Kelly Elliott, quote from Wanted
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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
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