"Throughout that summer and into the fall, floating in a pool of cheap beer, just below the surface of my semiconsciousness, was the constant thought: Maybe I won't wake up this time."

— Powers, Kevin (b. 1980)


Date
June 16, 2018
Metaphor
"Throughout that summer and into the fall, floating in a pool of cheap beer, just below the surface of my semiconsciousness, was the constant thought: Maybe I won't wake up this time."
Metaphor in Context
Throughout that summer and into the fall, floating in a pool of cheap beer, just below the surface of my semiconsciousness, was the constant thought: Maybe I won't wake up this time. I doubt much needs to be said about the kind of despair that would make such an idea a source of comfort, despair that came not from accepting that things were as bad as they were going to get but, worse, that they might go on like that forever. The next step felt both logical and inevitable.
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Kevin Powers, "What Kept Me From Killing Myself," The New York Times (June 16, 2018). <Link to nytimes.com>
Date of Entry
06/18/2018

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.