Toby Barlow Quotes & Sayings

The bullet we're running from is almost never the one that hits us. — Toby Barlow

He was high up now, gazing across to where Montmartre itself gazed out over the city. He was swept along in the wind, admiring the twin steeples of Notre-Dame as he passed, along with the dogged, devilish gargoyles of St. Jacques. — Toby Barlow

She suspected Oliver only wanted some token acknowledgment that despite her moving on, their exchange had not been completely superficial. She found even the most cavalier sorts still hated to let things pass completely unspoken. Everyone wanted to put a meaning to things. — Toby Barlow

You either trust or you distrust coincidence. It 's either small doses of magic pulling you to your appointed destiny or the devil trying to lead you down to the thorns. — Toby Barlow

This is all we are at our best, he thought, tiny instances accumulating up into a greater whole. There is noting magnificent in this world, he thought, that is not born from an act so slight as to go wholly unnoticed. We must be especially attentive to see them, and to remember to perform them, he thought, yes, that is the crux: we must simply pay attention. — Toby Barlow

This coyote is a wily dog born
from ancient trickster bones,
Loki, Hermes, the northwestern Raven of lore — Toby Barlow

The secret must stay and- according to scientists- the love will live. The heart is quite comfortable with secrets. After all, its home is a dark wet place tucked in among all the other organs who aren't talking either. — Toby Barlow

Like so much of the trouble in the world
it ends simply with exhaustion. — Toby Barlow

She tried to avoid his gaze but he held her steady and would not look away, Finally her eyes spoke to him. Her eyes said, Words are too weak, too small, they are always too small, even the purest and most simple phrases fail. Her eyes said, Look at who you are, you were asleep when I met you, but now you're awake, so stay awake. I did not need you and I did not want you and yet here you are, awake in my body and in my heart. — Toby Barlow

Days grow hotter and life grows shorter.
Time is somehow running out.
She flips her pillow
so she won't have to sleep on her tears. — Toby Barlow

She would say 'Bucket moon'
he would answer 'Ladle moon.'
Night after night sky revealed a
bitten moon, a butcher's moon,
an apple moon, a thief's moon,
a rabbit
'Rabbit moon?'
'Don't you see it?'
'I used to chase rabbits,' she had said,
her voice sweet and tired. — Toby Barlow

Minimum wages tends to elicit minimum attention. — Toby Barlow

There are two things that make
the conscious world move,
decision and desire. — Toby Barlow

Some things don't pass, the injuries don't heal they merely find a place in our guts and in our bones where they fitfully rest, tossing and turning between our knuckles and ribs waiting to wake as the shadows grow long. — Toby Barlow

And were you cornered by her,
eye to eye,
you would see that
there are still some watchful creatures
whose essence lies unbound by words.
There is still a wilderness. — Toby Barlow

The theory is simple.
Every boy, every man, is really
a bit of a golden retriever
or a big chocolate Lab.
Watch any man's eyes
at the bounce of a ball.
His head tilts slightly sideways, just a hair,
as a primitive focus
comes to life. — Toby Barlow

Men have dragged us by our hair through the ages, and whether they give us crumbs or bright, shiny rocks, they truly give us nothing at all. If you have not opened your legs for them so that they could drawl out as babies or crawl in as men, they they will leave you to starve like a dog on the street. So now we are done playing the way they want us to play. Now we are moving to music they cannot hear, to a rhythm they cannot understand. They call it madness and we call it truth and find me the magistrate you can trust to judge between the two? Bah. So we dance on, we dance on. — Toby Barlow

How old are you?"
"Ah that is a good one. I do not know."
"Before cars?"
"Before trains, before guns. Before people stole the curves from the high clouds and the angles from the flying flocks to build all their little alphabets. — Toby Barlow

He said, You know, whoever hurt you
dies every time they look in the mirror.
That is how they pay."
She crossed her arms.
"And one day, Maria, you will die too,
but there's no reason for you to die
every day. — Toby Barlow

He remembered that these imaginary conversations always began the same way, with the same phrase, the words he believed lay at the core of what any human being ever wants to hear from another, what affection is in its primary essence, what the bonds of friendship and family mean above all else. So he placed his hand gently on Bemm's shoulder and, softly, slowly, spoke the phrase, over and over again, as if it were a prayer, I am so glad you are here. — Toby Barlow

Yes, liquor is the thin white coat of paint you wash over the cracks in your foundation. Makes any rotten house livable for a few hours. Sometimes days. — Toby Barlow

You can't own something unless you can swallow it — Toby Barlow

The heart is a bloody thing. — Toby Barlow

Each dog marks a section of our lives, and in the end, we feed them to the dark, burying them there while we carry on. — Toby Barlow

Knowing someone isn't coming back
doesn't mean you ever stop waiting — Toby Barlow

She killed her sons first. Hammering a long fence nail through each of their hearts. Then, taking an ax, she methodically beheaded each one of her brothers-in-law. Going out to the pens, she drove the livestock into the barn, bolting it shut, and while the goat kids and spring lambs panicked and brayed, she put all the buildings to flame. — Toby Barlow

Call him Judas if you want
but he did it for reasons
much older than silver. — Toby Barlow

It seemed Paris somehow managed to absorb all the beautiful things the rest of the world discarded; it was a sparkling and bejeweled box of lost treasures, a wondrous cabinet that hummed with soft horn harmonies played against a grand piano's minor chords. — Toby Barlow

Monkeys
What! His partner said.
Monkeys are funny, said Peabody.'So why didn't we we pick monkeys.
His partner sighed and shook his head with sad dismay.
Monkeys? Jesus.
Monkeys' idea of fun is throwing their shit at you. Monkeys always take the joke a step too far. — Toby Barlow

There in that embrace, she feels something
shuffling around, moving warily
fumbling through the dusty rooms of her heart,
and, one by one, turning on the lights — Toby Barlow

Luck is stupid as a cow and blind as a bat. — Toby Barlow

Immediately he surprised her, for she like the way he kissed, like a man who wanted to swallow life. — Toby Barlow

He knows that it's impossible to tell a wolf
from a man if
he keeps his chin up
and his teeth clean. — Toby Barlow

Blood, fat, marrow, grease, sinew, muscle, guts, hide, fur, sleep
They may twitch in their dreams when they sleep
but they sleep deep — Toby Barlow

As she stared at the ceiling that first night
her body softly falling back into itself,
she thought of how we dream of journeying
on spaceships to other universes, other worlds,
but really, for the forever,
we're stuck here on the dirt and
the only time we will travel anywhere truly unknowable
is when we slip into the skin of another,
venturing into their mysteries,
always hoping for
a safe landing. — Toby Barlow

You take a shower, your head is up, far away from everything, lost in the clouds, but down in the tub, man, you know who you are. — Toby Barlow

That's what love does/ It chases the dragons away/ before their claws can sink in. — Toby Barlow