“I sit for a long stretch of time, focusing on that pain like an original point, like the early ache of displacement that explodes into the shape of our lives, like the fires which rage around us for the entirety of our days, threatening to swallow us blank. But as I wrap my breath around that original point, as I sink deeper and deeper into the loss, I feel a shiver like presence. I squint and imagine the pit splintering open. A spot of red at the center: Is this joy?” PainJoyHealing Book:The Sea Once Swallowed Me: A Memoir of Love, Solitude, and the Limits of Language Source: The Sea Once Swallowed Me: A Memoir of Love, Solitude, and the Limits of Language