The Stuff Of It
is not the stuffthe songs are built on usually—not the cinematic, not the cruellybeautiful tragedy or the impossible desire.The stuff of it is the lower temperaturebut the longer fire.The stuff of it is the negotiated morning,the accumulated warning signslearned to read in each otherover the stretch of the years,the specific signals and the reach.The stuff of it, the actual stuff of what this is—the pop quiz of the real,the every ordinary feel,not just the high onesand the record-worthy ones,but all of them:the suns and the clouded days equally,the full range of the actual.I love the stuff of itmore than the idea of the love.I love the actual dailyover the theoretical above-groundpicture the movies and the songs put forward.I love the stuff of it—the kitchen and the recordof the argument we had last weekand how we got back through.The stuff of it is the getting back through,that’s the true content of the love we have:the stubbornness of the daily,sailing back to the center of the thingafter the drift.The stuff of it is the driftand the giftof the getting back,the ordinary morning after,the ordinary repair,the ordinary laughter.The stuff of it is lovein the most factual expression of the thing—not the romanticized,not the mythologized,not the beautified.Just the dailyand the genuineand the here-it-is.The stuff of itis exactly what it is.
is not the stuffthe songs are built on usually—not the cinematic, not the cruellybeautiful tragedy or the impossible desire.The stuff of it is the lower temperaturebut the longer fire.The stuff of it is the negotiated morning,the accumulated warning signslearned to read in each otherover the stretch of the years,the specific signals and the reach.The stuff of it, the actual stuff of what this is—the pop quiz of the real,the every ordinary feel,not just the high onesand the record-worthy ones,but all of them:the suns and the clouded days equally,the full range of the actual.I love the stuff of itmore than the idea of the love.I love the actual dailyover the theoretical above-groundpicture the movies and the songs put forward.I love the stuff of it—the kitchen and the recordof the argument we had last weekand how we got back through.The stuff of it is the getting back through,that’s the true content of the love we have:the stubbornness of the daily,sailing back to the center of the thingafter the drift.The stuff of it is the driftand the giftof the getting back,the ordinary morning after,the ordinary repair,the ordinary laughter.The stuff of it is lovein the most factual expression of the thing—not the romanticized,not the mythologized,not the beautified.Just the dailyand the genuineand the here-it-is.The stuff of itis exactly what it is.