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Quote by Kevin Barry

Work

The Heart in Winter

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Author

Kevin Barry
Kevin Barry

Kevin Barry, an Irish writer, was born in 1969 and passed away on November 1, 1920. Barry is known for his unique literary style and profound insights into Irish society. more

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“I'd seen old Yardley Slickers- the makeup now just a waxy crumble- sell for almost one hundred dollars on the internet. So grown women could smell it again, that chemical, flowery fug. That's how badly people wanted it- to know that their lives had happened, that the person they once had been, still existed inside of them. There were so many things that returned me. The tang of soy, the smoke in someone's hair, the grassy hills turning blond in June. An arrangement of oaks and boulders could, seen out of the corner of my eye, crack open something in my chest, palms going suddenly slick with adrenaline.”

“Thomas moves even closer until their faces were less than an inch apart, their breath mixed and harsh. He sees Taylor’s eyes move to his lips. Thomas’s breath hitches. He couldn’t resist darting his eyes lower as well to look at Taylor’s pink full lips. Taylor licks them, then parts them slightly. Almost like he was begging to be kissed. “Fuck it” Thomas says before leaning to crush their mouths together.”

“I wanted that bold nonchalance for myself. I wanted to feel confident when I showed a man affection, not just within the walls of an apartment or the relative safety of a gay bar, not just during Pride. I wanted to kiss a man whenever and wherever I felt like it—on a sidewalk in the rain, at a crowded bus stop, in a shopping mall parking lot on a Monday afternoon. I wanted to kiss a man whose presence made the rest of the world vanish into irrelevance, a man whose touch erased every tinge of fear and every knot of knee-jerk shame I'd felt for having the audacity to display a love like mine in a world like ours.”