Reader

“My parents couldn't see the life in my head;
when I wrote it down, they fixed the spelling.”
― Louise Glück, Averno

“If you can't read, my sister said,
can you be happy?”
― Louise Glück, Winter Recipes from the Collective

“Was it the sea? Responding, maybe,
to celestial force? To be safe,
I prayed. I tried to be a better person.
Soon it seemed to me that what began as terror and matured into moral narcissism might have become in fact
actual human growth. Maybe
this is what my friends meant, taking my hand, telling me they understood
the abuse, the incredible shit I accepted,
implying (so I once thought) I was a little sick
to give so much for so little.
Whereas they meant I was good (clasping my hand intensely)
a good friend and person, not a creature of pathos.”
― Louise Glück, The Seven Ages: Bold and Masterful Poems on Death, Metamorphosis, and Embracing the Inevitable

“My soul
shattered with the strain
of trying to belong to earth-”
― Louise Glück, Poems, 1962-2012