the most fragile relationship in the world

‘The two sides of a secret are repression and expression, just as the two sides of the poem are the told and the untold. We must be careful not to take the word as the meaning itself; words do not “capture” a moment as much as they “communicate” it—they are a bridge that, paradoxically, breaks isolation and loneliness without eradicating it. It is the first experience you ever had of reading a decent poem: “Oh, somebody else is lonely, too!”

It is the most fragile relationship in the world.’

Mary Ruefle, ‘On Secrets’, Madness, Rack, and Honey. Collected lectures