Modern Noir Quotes

“Three-Ring Circus by Stewart Stafford

First love's doubtless light,
Blinded with scorching might,
What little a cloudy eye allows,
Passion's seal on supple brows.

Resplendent in our united phase.
Love's incandesence in full blaze,
No one else existed, gazes locked,
Past emptiness, amnesia-blocked.

Now we pass on a muted, wintry street,
Joyless crime, sounds of splashing feet,
Pained awareness, eyes to the ground,
Mourners part bereft of sorrow's sound.

© 2025, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“I fucking romanticize the idea of disappearing forever. I don’t mean checking out early, pulling a Hemingway with the shotgun, leaving a mess for the maid and a legacy for the critics to pick over like vultures on a roadside carcass. That’s too final. That’s too loud. I’m talking about the fade out. The slow dissolve. I’m talking about the Great Vanishing Act.”
― Lokesh Tuli, Notes From Exile: The "Manual for the Broken”