i will not apologise
for seeking beauty
in barren places.

— (i have always been) hungry for more

© Liezel Graham 2019

{📷 liezel graham}

…but perhaps this little wordstring can also be read as:

i will not apologise for seeking beauty in the cracks in the glassware, or when i am scratching for it in the dust of disappointment because the ones i love could not join me at my table, or when i am looking for it in the paint peeling on the bathroom ceiling where the water came through two years ago, and how i have to turn myself inside out on some days just to look for crumbs of loveliness because i know they can be multiplied over and over to feed a multitude, and let me tell you a secret about barren places—they hold a different kind of beauty—it doesn’t just sit there like a lush tree, or a meadow full of flowers, you have to dig for it with your bare hands—you have to be willing to get dirty and tired, and you will have to teach yourself a different language, one that won’t easily climb up your throat at first, but once it does; once you allow it to, you will find that what was only a word or two will turn into a flock of small songbirds living on your tongue, and the best words to start with are ‘thank you. thank you. thank you’.

try it and see how they multiply and bring shade to your weary life in the driest of deserts.

and perhaps also this:

beauty does not require perfection, in fact it lives and breathes so beautifully in the wilds of imperfection.

liezel