Writing aspirations
Pieces of writing that jolt me full of drive
Writing aspirations
The task is precision, in saying I love you, I loved you, I didn’t tell you enough, I didn’t know how. As I think about writing this, my cat plops down directly on my neck, pressing his back into my throat and the purring vibrates there. A coerced duet. And there is always excess, possibly always counterfeit; to feel anything fully we feel in... See more
Joshua Clover, 1962–2025 – Rosa Press
“Forgive and forget.” “There isn’t even much to forgive. He was always clear about who he was. I was in denial.” Campbell tsks. “He didn’t love you, darling. What could be more necessary to forgive?”
Maggie Shipstead • Astonish Me: From the Booker Prize 2021 and Women’s Prize 2021 shortlisted author of GREAT CIRCLE
suchhh a churning idea, that the inability for someone to love you requires your forgiveness to move on — is the reason we’re all stuck yearning because we never learnt the importance of forgiving someone’s lack of love for us?
He does not understand that he cannot understand, that the loves of others are unfathomable.
Maggie Shipstead • Astonish Me: From the Booker Prize 2021 and Women’s Prize 2021 shortlisted author of GREAT CIRCLE
She seems distracted, the way Joan feels when Harry is away on a school trip and part of her tries to follow him clairvoyantly through his day, probing the ether for any sign of distress.
Maggie Shipstead • Astonish Me: From the Booker Prize 2021 and Women’s Prize 2021 shortlisted author of GREAT CIRCLE
Holding it at the end of one outstretched arm, she maneuvers onto her back again, then expels a cloud of smoke. The arm comes down to her mouth in a graceful curve, a swan’s neck bending to feed.
Maggie Shipstead • Astonish Me: From the Booker Prize 2021 and Women’s Prize 2021 shortlisted author of GREAT CIRCLE
Since her conversation with Harry, she has felt painfully alert, both vulnerable and dangerous, as though she were wrapped in explosives.
Maggie Shipstead • Astonish Me: From the Booker Prize 2021 and Women’s Prize 2021 shortlisted author of GREAT CIRCLE
But she does not expect him to say, immediately, forcefully, champagne flute in one hand, “He is mine, this boy.” “No,” she says, claustrophobic, trying to breathe, “he’s mine.”