6.
I mention them now,
I will not mention them again.
It is not lack of love
nor lack of sorrow.
But the iron thing they carried, I will not carry.
I give them--one, two, three, four--the kiss of courtesy,
of sweet thanks,
of anger, of good luck in the deep earth.
May they sleep well. May they soften.
But I will not give them the kiss of complicity.
I will not give them the responsibility for my life.
-- Mary Oliver, "Flare"
The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love -- whether we call it friendship or family or romance -- is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other's light. Gentle work. Steadfast work. Life-saving work in those moments when life and shame and sorrow occlude our own light from our view, but there is still a clear-eyed loving person to beam it back. In our best moments, we are that person for another.
-- James Baldwin
You may be exhausted from holding things and be disheartened. And even weep if you are very emotional. Which could be anyone on any day. With good reason. But then there is the next moment and the next day and...hold on[.]
-- Maira Kalman, Women Holding Things
It is hard work to hold everything and it never ends.
-- Maira Kalman, Women Holding Things
Objects around us hold our attention and our love.
-- Maira Kalman, Women Holding Things
The terrors of the world exist. And we are wounded. It would be so nice to never be afraid. But I am afraid that is just not possbile.
-- Maira Kalman, Women Holding Things
If you meet the Holocaust, you can never escape its grip. You are obliged to feel it reverberate through all things for the rest of your life.
-- Maira Kalman, Women Holding Things
How much I love things and the stories they tell.
-- Maira Kalman, Women Holding Things
When I think about (Cézanne and his wife Hortense) disagreeing, bickering, being sullen, brooding and moping and then him painting cherries, or trees, and painting her over and over, I am heartened. And settled inside. Because every day is a struggle, and it is not easy. But if you can paint a bowel of cherries, that is something.
-- Maira Kalman, Women Holding Things
When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses, for art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstones of our judgement.
-- John F. Kennedy
