a list of my favorite quotes from books read, songs listened, and films watched in 2023, in no particular order

• still king's cross and pullin' heartbreak out of hats. still argue like my mother and suppress stuff like my dad. still miss you, but i know now it'll pass (ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh). found some other muses, i give 'em all my bеst. i light another candle and i chant under my brеath that i will try forgiveness, but i will not forget not forget, not forget, not forget. am i better yet? (the good witch, maisie peters, 2023)
• 여길 떠나 혹여 날 잃어도 깊은 마음속 내 작은 섬엔 나를 담아 놓은 내가 있어 so i'm ready to journey again (journey, woodz, 2023)
• in a little while i'll be gone. the moment's already passed. yeah, it's gone. and i'm not here, this isn't happening. i'm not here. i'm not here (how to disappear completely, radiohead, 2000)
• when the man who was not my father divorced my mother, i stopped being related to him. these things are complicated, says the talmud. when he died, i couldn’t prove it. i couldn’t get a death certificate. these things are complicated, says the health department. their names remain on the deed to the house. it isn’t haunted, it’s owned by ghosts. when i die, i will come in fast and low. i will stick the landing. there will be no confusion. the dead will make room for me. (real estate, richard siken, 2020)
• my head was a glove. it had many fingers. it grabbed for things but they were slippery. i couldn’t find the light switches and i forgot how to make food so i ate cheese slices in the dark. no, it wasn’t that bad. i ate cheese slices in the moonlight. (richard siken, unpublished, 2023)
• i turned toward you and you turned away. you didn’t turn back. listen, this is important, you knew it was coming: i’m sorry i scared you but i didn’t die. you don’t get to stay mad about it. (richard siken, unpublished, 2023)