1
" He had a little single-story house, three bedrooms, a full bathroom and a half bathroom, a combined kitchen-living room-dining room with windows that faced west, a small brick porch where there was a wooden bench worn by the wind that came down from the mountains and the sea, the wind from the north, the wind through the gaps, the wind that smelled like smoke and came from the south. He had books he'd kept for more than twenty-five years. Not many. All of them old. He had books he'd bought in the last ten years, books he didn't mind lending, books that could've been lost or stolen for all he cared. He had books that he sometimes received neatly packaged and with unfamiliar return addresses, books he didn't even open anymore. He had a yard perfect for growing grass and planting flowers, but he didn't know what flowers would do best there--flowers, as opposed to cacti or succulents. There would be time (so he thought) for gardening. He had a wooden gate that needed a coat of paint. He had a monthly salary. "
― Roberto Bolaño , 2666
2
" Inconstancy of every second punishes me.
The wind, the rain, the clouds, the days,
I try to grasp the hours but they banish me,
And I remain in the vortex of incongruity.
The lone coyote shrieks,
Startling my soul into wakefulness.
The Cacti bloom and the Wren beckons,
Deepening my mind into dreamlessness.
And the moments spend time with inconstancy,
increasing the ease of uneasiness.
Why this daily pilgrimage of ideas?
When no saint has ever ceased the day!
Still yearning for some magic hour,
Where nothing but permanence dwells.
Alas, only this thought be the only truth,
That certainty in death is constant.
And so, in every second, minute, hour,
our only gain is memory.
Be it bitter or sweet:
it is ours!
Rejoice. "
― Ansul Noor , Soul Fire (A Mystical Journey through Poetry)
3
" The Everglades was the only place on earth where alligators (broad snout, fresh water, darker skin) and crocodiles (pointy snout, salt water, toothy grin) lived side by side. It was the only home of the Everglades mink, Okeechobee gourd, and Big Cypress fox squirrel. It had carnivorous plants, amphibious birds, oysters that grew on trees, cacti that grew in water, lizards that changed colors, and fish that changed genders. It had 1,100 species of trees and plants, 350 birds, and 52 varieties of porcelain-smooth, candy-striped tree snails. It had bottlenose dolphins, marsh rabbits, ghost orchids, moray eels, bald eagles, and countless other species that didn't seem to belong on the same continent, much less in the same ecosystem. "
― , The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise
