Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June. There’s a crack in the sky and a light from on high. Ô, Sunlight! The most precious gold to be found on Earth. My supernatural radio. I can hear the angels singing along. Put me on a highway, show me a sign. I’ll have the time of my life when I get to nowhere.
Woke up an optimist, sun was shinin’, I’m positive. Summer, after all, is a time when wonderful things can happen to quiet people. For those few months, you’re not required to be who everyone thinks you are. You can be grateful and easy, with no eyes on you, and no past. Summer just opens the door and lets you out.
It’s not the long, flowing dress that you’re in or the light coming off of your skin. A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in. Summer is when laziness finds respectability. If you’re not barefoot, then you’re overdressed. Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.
In summer, the song sings itself. Brass monkey, junkie. Tainted love; burnin’ down the house. It’s a typical situation is these typical times, too many choices. Hush, hush, voices carry. Might as well face it, you’re addicted to love.
The summer night is like a perfection of thought. Sprinkled with emotion. There were all of those things you weren’t supposed to do. The breezes so caressingly soft and intimate on the skin as to be embarrassing. Dancing in the dark. Love letters in the sands.
I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June. I’m going to waste my life in the sunshine. We can live beside the ocean, leave the fire behind, swim out past the breakers, watch the world die. Trapped in a state of imaginary grace. Livin’ on a high note.
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Artwork: The Art of Seth
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Despair Is The Breakthrough, An Essay Made Of Quotes
Endnotes are in the same order as the sentences they refer to.
[i] Bernstein, Al. (No specific source available.)
[ii] The Black Keys, “Beautiful People,” Ohio Players, Nonesuch Records, 2024.
[iii] Payne, Roman. “Rooftop Soliloquy.” Seattle, WA: Small Beer Press, 2004.
[iv] Payne, Roman. “Rooftop Soliloquy.” Seattle, WA: Small Beer Press, 2004.
[v] Tom Petty, “Supernatural Radio,” She’s the One, Warner Bros. Records, 1996.
[vi] Chuckey Ellis, “Texas Hold ’em (Gospel Version),” Texas Hold ’em, Independent, 2024.
[vii] The Black Keys, “This Is Nowhere,” Ohio Players, Nonesuch Records, 2024.
[viii] Eagles, “Take It to the Limit,” One of These Nights, Asylum Records, 1975.
[ix] FourFiveSeconds.” Performed by Rihanna, Kanye West, and Paul McCartney. 2015
[x] Caletti, Deb. “Honey, Baby, Sweetheart.” New York: Simon Pulse, 2004.
[xi] Caletti, Deb. “Honey, Baby, Sweetheart.” New York: Simon Pulse, 2004.
[xii] Caletti, Deb. “Honey, Baby, Sweetheart.” New York: Simon Pulse, 2004.
[xiii] Caletti, Deb. “Honey, Baby, Sweetheart.” New York: Simon Pulse, 2004.
[xiv] Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, “If We Were Vampires,” The Nashville Sound, Southeastern Records, 2017.
[xv] Orben, Robert. “Magic Carpet: 100 Creative Story Ideas for Writers.” New York: Citadel Press, 1998.
[xvi] Keen, Sam. “Learning to Fly: Reflections on Fear, Trust, and the Joy of Letting Go.” New York: Bantam Books, 1999.
[xvii] Unknown. (No specific source available.)
[xviii] Lubbock, John. “The Use of Life.” 1894.
[xix] Williams, William Carlos. “Spring and All.” Paris: Contact Editions, 1923.
[xx] Beastie Boys, “Brass Monkey,” Licensed to Ill, Def Jam Recordings, 1986.
[xxi] Paramore, “Burning Down the House,” Single, Atlantic Records, 2024.
[xxii] Dave Matthews Band, “Typical Situation,” Under the Table and Dreaming, RCA Records, 1994.
[xxiii] ‘Til Tuesday, “Voices Carry,” Voices Carry, Epic Records, 1985.
[xxiv] Robert Palmer, “Addicted to Love,” Riptide, Island Records, 1985.
[xxv] Stevens, Wallace. “The Poems of Wallace Stevens.” New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1954.
[xxvi] Nirvana, “Oh Me,” MTV Unplugged in New York, DGC Records, 1994.
[xxvii] Valerie June, “High Note,” published by BMG, produced by June Tunes Music Productions.
[xxviii] Simmons, Dan. “Drood.” New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009.
[xxix] Bruce Springsteen, “Dancing in the Dark,” Born in the U.S.A., Columbia Records, 1984.
[xxx] Skid Row, “I Remember You,” Skid Row, Atlantic Records, 1989.
[xxxi] Montgomery, L.M. “Anne of Green Gables.” Boston: L.C. Page & Co., 1908.
[xxxii] The Black Keys, “This Is Nowhere,” Ohio Players, Nonesuch Records, 2024.
[xxxiii] Everclear, “Santa Monica,” Sparkle and Fade, Capitol Records, 1995.
[xxxiv] Bad English, “Melt with You,” Bad English, Epic Records, 1989.
[xxxv] Valerie June, “High Note,” published by BMG, produced by June Tunes Music Productions.