This entry is based on Kim Dana Kupperman’s “71 Fragments for a Chronology of Possibility” and her writing exercise in Blurring Boundaries: Explorations to the Fringes of Nonfiction (edited by B.J. Hollars).
25 Reasons to Love Life
“Wherever she was, she was at the center of the world. That one lives at the center of the world is the world’s profoundest thought.” Wendell Berry, Whitefoot
1. At the center of my world is purple. Purple for passion, passion for survival.
2. At the center of my world is my heart, its beats going unnoticed most of the time. It pumps, provides, pushes blood through me and guides my every step.
3. At the center of my world are the dreams I dream about the future someone who will be my other purple.
4. At the center of my world, a mountain stands.
5. As I write this, I understand the center of my world.
6. As I write this, I know that the center of my world is solitary, but not alone.
7. As I write this, I realize that the center of my world is circling and always, always, always changing.
8. As I write this, I am certain that I center my world on writing.
9. I need to be strong for the center of my world.
10. The center of my world is silence and taking time off for myself.
11. The center of my world is love and loving myself.
12. The center of my world is chaotic.
13. The center of my world is difficult and arduous, like rapids in a swollen river.
14. The trees in the center:
a. Aspen
b. Blue Spruce
c. Oak
15. The colors:
a. Mauve
b. Forest Green
c. Royal Blue
d. Rose Pink
e. Gold
16. The couch on which I sit now in my apartment is not the center of my world.
17. The pillows with prints, although they are nice to rest on, are not the center of my world.
18. The politics of my work, school, and nation do not belong in the center of any world.
19. What is the center:
a. Music
b. Breathing
c. Warmth of a friend
20. I hope that the center of my world will be like an oval. Or a labyrinth with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
21. I hope for hands to hold mine.
22. I wish for magic.
23. The center of my world is why I should love myself.
Why?
24. A reason: Hope.
25. Another: Life and the beautiful mess that it is.