Our Bourbon and Our Couches

“We are, all of us, abominably human.

We are broken and we are flawed and even we ourselves barely recognize the degree to which this is true. And Love is this concept that, in its platonic ideal form, makes over other people and conceals those flaws and convinces us for brief moments that, Hey, perhaps this Other is not so flawed, is not broken, is not abominably just-like-me.

And then we realize they are; and then they realize we are.

But sometimes it’s just nice to be broken and flawed with someone. And it’s nice to have someone to get fucked up on bourbon and fall asleep half-naked on the couch with. And sometimes it’s nice to just pretend we’re not so flawed and broken and abominable. And it’s this concept of Love that is the problem, after all. We are broken and flawed and we created a broken and flawed concept because we have brains able to dream of things beyond ourselves and to imagine the nonexistent.

But we have our bourbon and our couches and half of our clothes, so that’s okay. It’s really all okay.”

Raymond Carver

words: love in the dumps
image: aphasiafilms