Mirror Image - Louise Glück

Tonight I saw myself in the dark window as

the image of my father, whose life

was spent like this,

thinking of death, to the exclusion

of other sensual matters,

so in the end that life

was easy to give up, since

it contained nothing: even

my mother's voice couldn't make him

change or turn back

as he believed

that once you can't love another human being

you have no place in the world.

"If you're not strong inside yourself I don't even want to be near you." - Henry Rollins

If you're not strong inside yourself I don't even want to be near you.

Don't even look at me. I don't want to know your name. Life is too

short. The closest thing I can come to love, is respect. To me,

respect is miles beyond. That's the problem. Love can exist in spite

of a total lack of respect. To me, that's a fucking fat lie. I can only

carry myself. I can't respect anyone who can't stand on their own

two feet. If you want me, then you must want yourself ten times

more. You must be strong. Otherwise go fall in love and lie to your-

self as you beat yourself into happiness.

And Sometimes I Sit - Nikki Giovanni

and sometimes i sit

down at my typewriter

and i think

not of someone

cause there isn't anyone

to think

about and i wonder

is it worth it

"I don't want a shoulder to lean on." - Henry Rollins

I don't want a shoulder to lean on. I don't need it. The whole idea of

“Someone, that special someone...!” is for me, a load of shit. I must

be fully contained. No leakage, no spillover. Dependency is weak-

ness. It's such a lie. Lying there in bed, in your lover's arms. She's

behind me, she believes in me! No one is behind me. I am behind

me. I believe in me. I don't need any support group to keep my head

together. I know what I have to do, so I should just shut up and do it.

oh, yes - Charles Bukowski

there are worse things than

being alone

but it often takes decades

to realize this

and most often

when you do

it's too late

and there's nothing worse

than

too late.

when you wait for the dawn to crawl through the screen like a burglar to take your life away-- - Charles Bukowski

the snake had crawled the hole,

and she said,

tell me about

yourself.

and

I said,

I was beaten down

long ago

in some alley

in another

world.

and she said,

we're all

like pigs

slapped down some lane,

our

grassbrains

singing

toward the

blade.

by

god,

you're an

odd one,

I said.

we

sat there

smoking

cigarettes

at

5

in the morning.