Aadya

“A million questions flash through my mind: How did it begin for him? How and at what age did it reveal itself? How is it that no one can see it on him? Yes, how can it be so undetectable? And then: Is it about suffering? Only suffering? And again: Will I be the first? Or were there others before me? Others who were also secret? And: What does he imagine exactly? I don't ask any of these questions, of course. I follow his lead, accepting the rules of the game.

He says: I know a place.”
― Philippe Besson, Lie With Me

“I remember
the longing inside my head,
[her] beautiful letters,
mine, my fingers tracing the ridges
of consonants, questions
and postscripts littering margins,
uncontainable form, the page
a stage for candor. To know another
is the terrible work of love,
is it not?

— Jennifer Chang, from “In the Middle of My Life,” The American Poetry Review (September/October 2021, vol. 50, no.5)”
― Jennifer Chang

“I’m not crazy for feeling this way. They’re crazy for trying to stop me. And if it’s the last time I ever get to feel joy again, I won’t let them have it.”
― James Brandon, Ziggy, Stardust and Me