Friends make you smile — best friends make you giggle ’til you pee
—Terri Guillemets
Biblioinsomnia
Up late with books, reading in bed—
Up early with coffee, extra lead.
—Terri Guillemets
Becoming
How many have made ourselves ugly from the burden of being beautiful? Made ourselves dumb because of the shame of being smart?
—Terri Guillemets
Falling
Fear is imagination falling off a cliff.
—Terri Guillemets
Pain gain
Sometimes I get the feeling the aspirin companies are sponsoring my headaches.
—Terri Guillemets
Dock & thistle
Driving down the wrong road and knowing it,
The fork years behind, how many have thought
To pull up on the shoulder and leave the car
Empty, strike out across the fields; and how many
Are still mazed among dock and thistle,
Seeking the road they should have taken?
—Damon Knight (1922–2002), The Man in the Tree, 1984
Falling up
Autumn is springtime in reverse.
—Terri Guillemets
Rain & shine
Many things happen rain or shine, but rainbows are so special they happen
—Terri Guillemets
Weary
“When the superficial wearies me, it wearies me so much that I need an abyss in order to rest.”
—Antonio Porchia (1886–1968), Voces, 1943–1966, translated from the Spanish by W. S. Merwin (1927–2019), 1968
Tuition
“If you ever change your mind… you’re not stuck with it. You’ve got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you’re not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice.”
—Steven D. Woodhull
A turning trial by fire
Anger makes your life — and your body —
—Terri Guillemets
Pain & struggle
We can’t always see the scatters and tatters of a broken heart. Kindness is due to all fellow beings — we never know the invisible hurts they’re enduring.
—Terri Guillemets
Brimming
Time pours his guests a cup of tea but the party is over before we know it.
—Terri Guillemets