After the film it was raining, a light steady rain. Ruthless neon on the wet streets like busted candy.
Denis JohnsonRead
When we were arguing on my twenty-fourth birthday, she left the kitchen, came back with a pistol, and fired it at me five times from right across the table. But she missed. It wasn't my life she was after. It was more. She wanted to eat my heart and be lost in the desert with what she'd done, she wanted to fall on her knees and give birth from it, she wanted to hurt me as only a child can be hurt by its mother.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects deep emotional turmoil and the complex nature of love and pain in relationships.
In this vivid imagery, the author explores the intensity of love and the pain intertwined in intimate relationships. The act of firing a pistol represents extreme emotional turmoil and conflict, suggesting that the person desires not just to hurt, but to deeply connect and transform through their suffering. The metaphor of eating a heart and giving birth from it implies a longing for profound, transformative experiences, indicating that love can be both nurturing and destructive, akin to a child's dependence on a mother, laden with both affection and potential harm.
Themes
LovePainRelationshipsIntimacyHeartbreak
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the complexities of romantic relationships.
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Through this feeling of helplessness suddenly burst a piercing nostalgia for the lost world of childhood. The way it came right up against the heart, that world, and against the face. No indoors or outdoors, only everything touching us, and the grown-ups lumbering past overhead like constellations.
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