contrast

Okay, I've mentioned before that contrast in a phrase or sentence appeals to my sense of humor. I have a leather-cover journal in which I write quotes or passages from books that appeal to me. I refer to them as "power passages". I've copied poetry in it too, or even just phrases. I guess you could say it's my book of literary favorites. Here is one selection.

**

I dream of stillness in cool grasses.

Lying in the gentle breeze while

Thoughts frolic motionless among the daisies.

Silent laughter rings in ever-widening

Echoes down the deep valley of the stream,

And I float suspended above reality.

**

Here are a few more:

**

"...There is a rage in me. It comes up and out of my core,

it offers no warning, only a sudden burning

above my gut, then it hits the bone, the sternum,

the place between my breasts, and then it is in charge.

It breaks free, it speaks, it kicks..."

**

"...The wind [spoke to] me. It whistled through my heart,

making a mournful sound when it whipped around

in the emptiness, screeching when it had wove its way

around blockages and masses that have made themselves

a part of me in recent years. This is not rational.

Rationale has deceived me before and I'm wary now of things

making too much sense. When the wind spoke,

I was confused just enough to listen..."

~Excerpts from Snow by Betsy Howie

**

"...He imagined the push of the current in that other river,

shifting, spinning, uncovering things, and his whole life

was a singular journey to this moment in a clearing

in a place he didn't know..."

~Excerpt from The Sharpest Sight by Louis Owens