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shal·low  

/ˈSHalō/

Adjective

Of little depth.

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LOOK WHO IS CLIMBING SOME FRENCH LITERATURE!!!

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How I wish I looked when I read Balzac

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Reading brings us unknown friends.

Honoré de Balzac (via macrolit)

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there was a tiny human creature, conscious, furtive, deceitful & pathetic, with a white skin, wide ears, and tiny flesh marks, and all manner of distinctive signs such as are stamped on passports, a little man who would never run about the streets with one foot on the pavement and the other in the gutter: eyes , green like Mathieu's, or black like Marcelle's, which would never see the vitreous skies of winter, nor the sea, nor any human face, hands that would never touch the snow, nor the flesh of women, nor the bark of trees: an embodiment of the world, ensanguined, luminous, sullen, passionate, sinister, full of hopes, an image populous with houses & gardens, tall delightful girls and horrible insects: and a pin would pierce it and explode it like a toy balloon"

Jean Paul Sartre-The Age Of Reason

Did they tear it out with talons of steel And give you a shot, so that you wouldn't feel? And washed it away as if it wasn't real?

It's just a mistake I won't have to face Don't give it a name, don't give it a place Don't give it a chance, it's lucky in a way

It must have felt strange to find me inside you I hadn't intended to stay If you want to keep it right, put it to sleep at night Squeeze it until it could say

You can't be too strong

Graham Parker - You Can't Be Too Strong

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I came back to live for just one day

I came back to live for just one day After my life had ebbed away After my mortal coil had shifted And all my burdens had been lifted I realised I wasn't living while I was alive I was sleepwalking through life just trying to survive I didn't notice what was all around Things which were there, but I never found. The conversation of 1000 bees Autumn leaves as they fall from the trees Stifling heat, then refreshing breeze The strange and wonderful language of cheese The stars in the sky on a clear dark night The stealthy fox as he runs from sight The imperceptible tremor as you walk by The colours in a sunset sky The silent whisper of an alien voice The sound of the hills when they rejoice The brush of an angel passing by The knowing twinkle of an old lady's eye Women burping, birds chirping The sea as it rages, the rustle of pages The trickle of streams, a dog as it dreams Family love, warm cosy gloves Kind words, flapping birds Ice thawing, crows cawing Bacon frying, babies crying Friendly smiles, country stiles I realised I wasn't living while I was alive I was sleepwalking through life just trying to survive I didn't notice what was all around Things which were there, but I never found.

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Tragic circus characters

The bearded lady

Deep in subterranean caves

The bearded lady sits and shaves

And tells all her tales of love and loss

I sit and sympathetically listen

While her words pour out

And her sad eyes glisten

The socially awkward sword swallower

Down on the solitary shore of the sea

The socially awkward sword swallower longs to be

Witty, engaging and debonnaire

But when he comes home at night there's no one there

He leans his head back and extends his neck

The sword passes through his esophagus and stomach, but what the heck

He'd give it all up for a single friend

He'll find one tomorrow, that's what he intends

The wandering snake charmer

The snake charmer wanders without a home

Through villages & towns he aimlessly roams

Through galaxies and planets, he has no roots

Begging and scavenging with his worn out boots

But now the mystique of the snake is slipping away

The fear and superstitions on which he used to play

With his battered flute he sits in the dust

He doesn't like to do it, but he fears that he must

The compulsive juggler

In a smoky pub on the wrong side of town

The compulsive juggler sits and frowns

His mind is always spinning and tossing round and round

He can't stop always thinking of throwing things up and down

Balls and clubs and rings and knives, apples, mangos, plates

Fire-torches, chainsaws, coconuts and crates

His every waking thought is tormented by his juggling obsession

His conversation's a one way street, a monologue and procession

The short tempered contortionist

In a trailer park in a run down town

Where a pile of stale food rots

The short tempered contortionist

Ties herself in knots

Be careful not to criticise or say things out of place

Or she'll bite your head off, shout and scream and get right in your face

She holds her body in ridiculous poses and flexes her limbs like rubber

But she's angry like a scalded cat and can make a grown man blubber

The anxious clown

Sitting round a fire on a cold and cheerless day

Just like his mood, it's very dark and grey

Biting his nails is the anxious clown

Worrying and sighing and pacing up and down

Colourful wig and freakish shoes, he seems so full of grace

But if you look a little but closer there are tears on his paint smudged face

Will they laugh and find him funny

Can he still make people smile

He rides away on his unicycle

We won't see him for a while

The accident prone acrobat

Lying in a hospital bed

With broken legs and bandaged head

The accident prone acrobat sulks and moans

Blaming other people for his cracked and fractured bones

My partner let me down he says

The safety net was wrongly placed

The equipment must have been faulty

That's why I've got a bloody face

But other people says he's clumsy

And trips over his own feet

He's stubborn and he's reckless

Blaming others isn't neat

The timid lion tamer

The timid lion tamer is masterful in the ring

He commands the respect of lions and succeeds in everything

But when he's at home, when he's oh so alone

He's out of his element & in the wrong zone

He's scared of open spaces and dark and spooky places

He's intimidated by rats and moths and bugs and bats

He has a fear of clowns and spiders crawling down

But one thing you can say at least

He has tamed the king of beasts

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Older people grow embittered, and behave as though their lives were at stake

Jean Paul Sartre- Age of reason

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Are you as lonely as that?" I asked. Kafka nodded. "Like Caspar Hauser?" Kakfa laughed "Much worse than Caspar Hauser. I'm as lonely as Franz Kafka"

Gustav Janouch, conversations with Franz Kafka

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Everything gives the SS guard away. His powerlessness is glaring.Unable to do everything, he can no longer do anything. He is possessed. He remains powerless before language, and before memory. He has no power over Sundays or over sleep. He can't cancel the nights altogether. He can do nothing against the west wind, against the west, against the planes flying over Germany, against the sound of guns. He can't halt history

Georges Perec from Species of spaces and other pieces

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Randy Newman’s “Sail Away” is probably the bravest song any white guy has ever written about race in this country.

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Randy Newman

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Tom Waits

(more gifs here)

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Tom Waits

(more gifs here)

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Warning: Kate Tempest will connect you with your emotions and the cold, callous world around you. You may cry.

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Kate Tempest at Housing Works Bookstore, 5/3/16

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Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, Haruki Murakami

translated by Philip Gabriel