Why do you think the only value you hold is what you can or can't do?
Why do you think the only value you hold is what you can or can't give me?
Why do you think you're less?
Why do you think you're not good enough?
Why do you think these things?
Why do you feel this way?
Who did this to you?
Was it me?
Was it them?
What can I do to help you?
What can I do to support you?
What can I do to fix this?
we could be covered in blood together if you stopped playing hard to get
hey writers! OneLook Thesaurus lets you find that word you can’t think of but can describe! go check it out!
Marla Bendini (Singaporean, b. 1986)
Pillowtalk / It Is Safe To Look Within, 2021
Oil on linen
The Handmaiden (2016) dir. Park Chan-wook
Paintings by Alfred Stevens
It starts as a spark, a flicker. It start as a glimpse. For only a moment, the darkness is seized. For only a moment.
Then
Another strike of the match and the room bursts into flames.
Ever corner. Every crevice. Light spreads like a disease.
It's cool, touchable almost- at first. It dances atop your fingertips.
You could extinguish it easily, a simple breath could end it. You should blow it out now.
And then it is warm.
It is the heat of a summer's day. Next it is the steam of a kettle. Within seconds it is the flame of candle.
And then it's the sun.
It burns everything it touches, dressing you in charcoal, leaving you steaming.
Destruction.
Damage.
You opened that window and that fire spread. Sucked out into the fresh air. The cool air.
You should have blown it out.
You can't take back the burns. The scars. The pain. You can't take back the fire.
You can't take back the heat.