Brandon Shire > Quotes

“Loving someone gives you courage; being loved back gives you strength. -Lao Tzu”
― Brandon Shire, Afflicted II

“This was to be man sex.”
― Brandon Shire, Afflicted

“The problem here is that you think love will take all the pain away, like it does for characters in a book. It's not that easy, Stephen, and not that simple; despite all your bards and how much we'd like that to be true. It isn't. Love isn't going to fix me, or you. It's not a laxative that just helps you shit out all the crap you'd rather forget.”
― Brandon Shire, Listening To Dust

“Every storm has a brilliance, Dustin; has beauty when you look at it from a distance. It blurs all those incessant imperfections we seek to hollow out with each of our hopes. But when you step into its still center, when you see it's fury and its power, you also see its beauty; its grace.”
― Brandon Shire, Listening To Dust

“Five thousand miles away and I can still feel your turbulence on my skin, Dustin; your grit stuck in the chambers of my heart . . . and all the silence that has followed it.

Please write me back.”
― Brandon Shire, Listening To Dust

“Don't you dare," Lem barked.

"What?" Anderson pulled his hand to his chest. Not quite sure of the infraction he was about to commit.

"You were going to pick that flower."

Anderson smiled and reached for it again. "It's pretty."

Lem slapped his hand away. "It's endangered. Just look, don't pick."

"That's what they told me about you," Anderson said, bumping Lem with his shoulder.”
― Brandon Shire, Heart of Timber

“But I am your willing sacrifice, Dustin; I am the one willing to let you go in the deep hope that you will someday come back to me, come back to that moment and that understanding.

Yes, I cannot breathe without you in my soul, but I also know that I cannot take your breath for you. I understand that now.”
― Brandon Shire, Listening To Dust

“You are such a fag hag. They should have a class just for you, call it Man Porn 101.”
― Brandon Shire, Afflicted II

“Sometimes, the most beautiful things we find in this life are those we can't hold on to.”
― Brandon Shire, Summer Symphony

“A long time ago he believed that he was above the men chasing him; capitulating to their secret desires and dark fears was what he did to survive, nothing more and nothing less. But now he understood that all that reasoning was nothing more than a self-assessing loop which he had used as a survival mechanism. It had run constantly but never actually went anywhere; like a rat on a flywheel, all action, no forward motion.”
― Brandon Shire, Afflicted

“Listen to the breath of the rain."
They were silent for a minute. Dillon closed his eyes and tried to grasp at what Hunter experienced. Hunter moved closer and put the heat of his breath in Dillon's ear. "I want you to make love to me by the rhythm of the rain," he whispered.”
― Brandon Shire, Afflicted II

“Hunter turned and kissed Dillon deeply before he rinsed off. He had never wished for his sight before, but he would have given anything at that moment to be able to turn and witness the beauty of the man that had just made love to him. He'd literally felt the change in Dillon's grip as he made love.

The very first time they were together, Dillon's hold was uncertain, a tentative embrace that held no absolutes, no dreams, but just now it was different; it was a grip that sat right on the edge of possession, a possession Hunter would willingly give, if asked.

But would Dillon ask, and would he be able to accept?”
― Brandon Shire, Afflicted

“They had talked about doing audio man on man fiction at one time, but they realized that neither of them would be able to create a complete CD without running home to masturbate every hour or two.”
― Brandon Shire, Afflicted

“But love is a fluid thing. It's not the same for every person. The concept is. The reality isn't. When you hear people talking, they're usually trying to validate their own perception of what love is, or what it means to be in love.”
― Brandon Shire, Summer Symphony

“You’re telling me I'm being attacked by a bunch of goddamned queers?”
― Brandon Shire, The Love of Wicked Men - S01E04

“Snow is kind of weird," Dillon said. "It's so slow, drifts a little here and there, and it doesn't make much noise," he said as he looked at Hunter. "I think I want to skip the symphony," he added as he untied Hunter's tie and slipped it from around his neck. " I would like very much for us to stay in and see if you can match its rhythm. What do you think?”
― Brandon Shire, Afflicted II

“Over the years Breece had lectured that truth was liquid. That it evaporated in the heat of passion, froze in the cold of fear, and bent itself around virginous, unpurposeful fibs. It could churn and pull you under, drown you in itself, or let you ride upon it like a surf. But truth was always relfective. It showed blackheads and blemishes, fat rolls and sags, scabs and scars. Truth was fearful, angry and dangerous, and that was why so many people did their utmost to avoid it.”
― Brandon Shire, The Value of Rain

“His feelings for Hunter kept falling down on him like an inescapable rain. He kept getting drenched, not sure if he wanted to dance in it or pop open an umbrella and run for cover. “You’re such an idiot,” he told himself quietly.”
― Brandon Shire, Afflicted

“The desperate resilience,the annoyed flamboyance;his personable passivity and his phobic aggressiveness; all trapped in the clever wrinkles of his fingers, the hard unsociable cast of his knuckles, the safe hopelessness of the pads.”
― Brandon Shire

“I had these made special. The design is raised instead of carved in. Can you feel it?" Dillon asked.
Hunter ran his fingertip over the outside of the ring. He nodded as a tear formed in the corner of his eye.
"Can you tell me what it is?" Dillon asked quietly.
Hunter nodded and his voice choked. "Two people…"
"Two men," Dillon corrected.
"Two men," Hunter said, "pulling each other into the center of a circle."
Dillon watched his single tear slip and start sliding down his cheek. "Would you step into that circle with me, Hunter?"
Hunter nodded, a small sound escaping him. "Yes.”
― Brandon Shire, Afflicted II

“How could he have wanted someone so desperately for so long and then be this terrified when he finally saw him again?”
― Brandon Shire, Heart of Timber

“He knew what it was like to lose a parental anchor in life.”
― Brandon Shire, Afflicted

“(...)"He said we all have this different idea of what love is and that's what makes our circle. The more ideas and misconceptions you throw in, the larger the diameter and the harder it is to connect with someone. We," he said, squeezing Hunter's hand and signaling Margie and everyone around them, "all sit around the edge looking at everyone else around the circle. Sometimes we just settle for the person next to us because it's easy or convenient and we skip our way around its circumference, never really knowing what love is all about."

He took a sip of his Coke and kept his eyes on Margie. "But other times, you see that person across from you, staring back at you, and you fight like hell trying to get across while he does the same. If you're lucky, there's a rope you can toss over and help draw each other in, never looking away, never worrying about those still on the circumference; just you and him, pulling each other in, deeper and deeper."”
― Brandon Shire, Afflicted

“Don't look for someone you think you can change. Find someone you can love. Someone who will love you back, even if you get old and fat.”
― Brandon Shire, Heart of Timber

“Loving someone gives you courage; being loved back gives you strength.”
― Brandon Shire, Afflicted

“Shu-shu nodded and waved him to silence. He smiled as he wiggled his index finger at Dillon with a playful grin. “I knew what it was when I saw you.” “How?” Dillon asked skeptically. Shu-shu gestured at the air around him. “It surrounds you, in your face, your eyes, and your stance. Loving someone gives you courage; being loved back gives you strength. I see both. It is nice to see it on you, finally.”
― Brandon Shire, Afflicted

“In my opinion, I think we have brief moments of great beauty and great pain, and as we journey we try to grasp one, so we can avoid the other.”
― Brandon Shire, Summer Symphony

“Dillon went so still it was like Hunter was alone in the apartment again. He emitted no breath, no whisper of movement, nothing. He was just a blank space, an absence in the middle of the room. Hunter started to reach for him but froze his hand when Dillon spoke. (…)”
― Brandon Shire, Afflicted II

“Even now I can feel the heat from your palm as you cupped the back of my head and pulled my lips those last few inches, how you opened your body and begged me with your soul.”
― Brandon Shire, Listening To Dust

“Don’t even talk to me about being a mother. You were never a mother! Just the psychotic twat I lived with for the first fourteen years.”
― Brandon Shire, The Value of Rain