That’s how this machine works

~ Live & Learn

There’s how I don’t answer the phone, and how I sometimes like to lie down on the floor in the kitchen and pretend I’m not home when people knock. There’s daytime silent when I stare, and a nighttime silent when I do things. There’s shower silent and bath silent and […] car silent and then there’s the silence that comes back, a million times bigger than me, sneaks into my bones and wails and wails and wails until I can’t be quiet anymore. That’s how this machine works.

— Ada Limón, excerpt from “The Quiet Machine”, in Bright Dead Things: Poems 

Notes: Portrait by Lucas Marquardt @ About Ada. Passage via antigonick

22 thoughts on “That’s how this machine works”

  3. Have always marveled at the many distinct forms of silence. The silence of a welcome retreat…a quiet,cool room best suited for a Sunday afternoon nap….versus the silence of one’s home after beloved family and friends have departed. So very different….

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      2. Dave, a tall man, who posses wit & confidence,greets life on his own terms, who hides…you hiding, make me think of a bashful boy of yesteryear…and I smile…

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  7. Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
    I also have a ‘aquiet machine’ … I can see myself doing the same!! … “That’s how this machine works.” — Ada Limón, excerpt from “The Quiet Machine”, in Bright Dead Things: Poems.

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