Some men break your heart in two,
Some men fawn and flatter,
Some men never look at you;
And that clears up the matter.
— Dorothy Parker, “Experience”
(All your life you wait around for some damn man!)
— Dorothy Parker
There was a silence with things going on in it.
— Dorothy Parker, “Here We Are”
This story was originally published in Cosmopolitan. I just thought you’d all like to know that in 1931, Cosmo had sentences like this in it, and that in context sentences like this were amazing and profound and life-changing. I haven’t read enough of Dorothy Parker’s short stories. This one was kind of a revelation on the level of “Just A Little One.” (via popquizkid)
Happy birthday, Mrs. Parker!
I do not like my state of mind;
I’m bitter, querulous, unkind.
I hate my legs, I hate my hands,
I do not yearn for lovelier lands.
I dread the dawn’s recurrent light;
I hate to go to bed at night.
I snoot at simple, earnest folk.
I cannot take the gentlest joke.
I find no peace in paint or type.
My world is but a lot of tripe.
I’m disillusioned, empty-breasted.
For what I think, I’d be arrested.
I am not sick, I am not well.
My quondam dreams are shot to hell.
My soul is crushed, my spirit sore;
I do not like me any more.
I cavil, quarrel, grumble, grouse.
I ponder on the narrow house.
I shudder at the thought of men.
I’m due to fall in love again.
Love you, Dottie. Thanks for getting me through my freshman and sophomore years of high school. <3
Dorothy Parker Uncredited and Undated Photograph
“This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.” Dorothy Parker
please god, let me write like a man.
