Muse 108: Whole Trick

found via dearskye

I never understood what he meant until I stood in front of the pier, staring out to the empty platforms. Once, my mom said as we looked at the murky water, there were many sea lions. Too many to count. Now there were so few, perhaps two out of the fourteen platforms were filled and the rest remained empty. Were they dying out? I wanted to know. Were they afraid of returning? I was simply curious. The sight was pathetic, and it made me wonder why emptiness could be such an attraction. I held the camera to my face, gazed through the viewfinder and took the picture. 

They filled the corners, leaving no space. It worked the same way. Crowds and audiences have been abused by the lens, pretending there have been more when in reality, you look deeper and there's nothing more. Beyond the borders is emptiness, and I'm afraid that sometimes people are just like these photographs. 

Muse 66: Animal

found via weheartit

Someone once asked me, "If you could be any animal, what would you be?" And I thought about it carefully. I thought about how nice it would be to run wild free among the grass, let the green blades brush against my skin. Then again, it probably wouldn't feel the same against a coat of fur, maybe I wouldn't feel it at all. So I imagined myself soaring in the wind, living in the heights of the trees. I could touch the sky and kiss the sun without the fear of Icarus. Of every animal I could change into, I imagined myself small so that I could hide away from all the predators and anything that could hurt me. I would run fast, fly faster and hide all the better. And then suddenly, when I looked at the five fingers that could have just as easily been claws, I felt disappointed. What a dumb ass question, I realized. You could tell me of any animal that I wished to be, but I have always been the same. I'm still an animal.

Muse 55: Zoo

found via m-meow

I felt like an accessory to a collection; not so much a mark on the bedpost or a tally in a long succession of winnings, but something beautiful that would enhance the physical appeal. Moving in the world has never been any different from attending a zoo, a park full of wild animals that don't belong there. This world is a gilded cage. Your world is no different from the rest. The safe gates ease souls into believing that the easy life is behind doors. Silver spoons, forks and knives feed your trapped lips and you have no worry.