how to describe

as i flesh out more details into the book i find myself caught in the question of how to introduce all these people i love, whose names i’d slipped in with no further description.

i did not expect it to be so existential.

but it became quickly clear, why i’d avoided doing this.

how on earth do you describe someone you love?

i try to invoke a single trait and sit back, amused at how it’s like trying to catch water with my hands. the vastness of them, the smallness of language. try to brandish two feathers, to conjure the bird.

it seems so absurd. where do i even start, seriously? who cares how old or tall they are, how they spend their days? how can i explain what i’m actually trying to say - how brilliantly their spirit dances behind closed eyes? or the flavour of their absence when the ones they love think about them?

the more i love them the more pointless it feels, to try and pin down the unknowable essence that shapes their beauty. like trying to catch the moon in a bowl of water.