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Quote by Kay Ryan

“Stardust is the hardest thing to hold out for. You must make of yourself a perfect plane- something still upon which something settles- something like sugar grains on something like metal, but with none of the chill. It’s hard to explain. Stardust”

Quote by Kay Ryan

Work

The Niagara River

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Author

Kay Ryan
Kay Ryan

Kay Ryan is a renowned American contemporary poet, born on September 21, 1945. Her poetry is known for its simplicity and depth, and has been widely praised for its unique perspective and stylistic approach. She has received numerous literary awards and is considered an important figure in the American poetry scene. more

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“There is a wide yawning black infinity. In every direction the extension is endless, the sensation of depth is overwhelming. And the darkness is immortal. Where light exists, it is pure, blazing, fierce; but light exists almost nowhere, and the blackness itself is also pure and blazing and fierce. But most of all, there is very nearly nothing in the dark; except for little bits here and there, often associated with the light, this infinite receptacle is empty. This picture is strangely frightening. It should be familiar. It is our universe. Even these stars, which seem so numerous, are, as sand, as dust, or less than dust, in the enormity of the space in which there is nothing. Nothing! We are not without empathetic terror when we open Pascal’s Pensées and read, 'I am the great silent spaces between worlds.' [From an undated, handwritten piece of text from the early 1950s which Sagan wrote when he was an undergraduate at the University of Chicago]”