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Virga in Death Valley QUOTES

Virga in Death Valley QUOTES

1 " ...the land is moody, waiting.

Den turns around and looks at his father who leans into the bike, leans into a long drag on his cigarette, leans into a thought not ready for words. The man is so familiar. They should be at home by now. They should be sitting at the dinner table. This familiarity is deeper than the desert, longer than the miles they’ve traveled. It confuses Dennis.

What is the source of this sadness?

It’s time to go home. Den holds the camera steady. "

― Laurie Perez , Virga in Death Valley

2 " In that household, Todd’s flagrant self-expression became the clarity against which dark shades were necessary. "

― Laurie Perez , Virga in Death Valley

3 " Bertie is the soul of the desert. Her body’s Navajo brown inside the dawn of civilization. Her heart, the rumble of wind across dark boulders, across the ocean of dry soil. He holds her now inside his small, growing frame. "

― Laurie Perez , Virga in Death Valley

4 " It’s the job of the soul to stretch out across the body of the desert and touch, without skin or fingers or nerves, the hidden creek that wets our knowledge of who we are. Who we are before and after. Who we are when we’re alone and a goddess looks into our eyes, looks into our dreams and says, yes. I see you clearly. "

― Laurie Perez , Virga in Death Valley

5 " He’s taller than his shadow now; at odd minutes he scrapes the fading sky with the round, upturned bowl of skull that holds his matter in. No way to catch those minutes, no way to stable the seconds. He is simply growing, but not simply. There’s nothing simple about the way he’s aching and expanding. "

― Laurie Perez , Virga in Death Valley

6 " Lover winds a guitar string tight enough to slice your fingertip when you strum. It’s the guitar beat against the belly of the bluesman, sitting ugly on a stool, legs open in front of everyone. Lover is Winslow with sun blinding and wind sticking dust to your cheekbones when you peel out from the crater. The swirling force of cream stirring itself in a reheated cup of coffee steamed by exhaustion. The hands that stripped him bare in his sleep, played his hormones like a mean, magic riff 'til he woke up wet and high inside his bones. "

― Laurie Perez , Virga in Death Valley

7 " When he remembers that night, Dennis swears the man leaned down and whispered in his ear, 'Life's a test. Keep failing 'til you win.' In the moment, though, the only thing he's sure of is that they fought a minute, then started over. While they re-racked and cued up, he crawled back and forth, picking up those overpriced coins. "

― Laurie Perez , Virga in Death Valley

8 " Mouth is open, stale cigarette breath. He’s down all the way to the floor and Dennis is trying to fit inside him somehow. O. How his father sobs. B. No way to be still. STET. Nothing changes, nothing gets deleted from this scene. TRICKS. Life is playing tricks on both of them. "

― Laurie Perez , Virga in Death Valley