Madness and witchery as well as bestiality are conditions commonly associated with the use of the female voice in public.
ANNE CARSONMadness and witchery as well as bestiality are conditions commonly associated with the use of the female voice in public.
ANNE CARSONThe man has a theory. The woman has hipbones. Here comes Death.
ANNE CARSONWhen I began to be published, people got the idea that I should ‘teach writing,’ which I have no idea how to do and don’t really believe in.
ANNE CARSONHere we go mother on the shipless ocean. Pity us, pity the ocean, here we go.
ANNE CARSONIf your way of life is writing, then everything that happens becomes a sentence.
ANNE CARSONLife pulls softly inside your bindings. The pod glows – dear stench.
ANNE CARSONHe was trying to fit this Herakles onto the one he knew.
ANNE CARSONThe words we read and words we write never say exactly what we mean. The people we love are never just as we desire them. The two symbols never perfectly match. Eros is in between.
ANNE CARSONHe stood against the wind and let it peel him clean.
ANNE CARSONAll myth is an enriched pattern, a two-faced proposition, allowing its operator to say one thing and mean another, to lead a double life.
ANNE CARSONThe self forms at the edge of desire, and a science of self arises in the effort to leave that self behind.
ANNE CARSONYou used to say. “Desire doubled is love and love doubled is madness.” Madness doubled is marriage I added when the caustic was cool, not intending to produce a golden rule.
ANNE CARSONConsider incompleteness as a verb.
ANNE CARSONLove dares the self to leave itself behind, to enter into poverty.
ANNE CARSONAt least half of your mind is always thinking, I’ll be leaving; this won’t last. It’s a good Buddhist attitude. If I were a Buddhist, this would be a great help. As it is, I’m just sad.
ANNE CARSONWhen an ecstatic is asked the question, What is it that love dares the self to do? she will answer: Love dares the self to leave itself behind, to enter into poverty.
ANNE CARSON