I used to be an avid reader of Thought Catalog. A friend showed me a TC-published piece a couple of years ago and I immediately became hooked. All of the contributing writers at the time were putting together pieces that were thoughtful, beautiful, insightful; their work made me think, showed me new perspectives, moved me. There has been an unsettling shift within the past year or so. Even though there are now more articles posted per day, the value and beauty I used to find in every article on the website can now only be found in one of every 50 pieces published; it has become an exhausting task to sift through all the listicles, reddit shares, and poorly-written narratives to try and find something of substance. I miss the way things used to be; I miss when every single one of the articles published was well-written, respectable, and intelligent in some way.
I thought I would pay my respects to those good ol’ days and share with you guys the writing of Cody Gohl. He’s by far my favourite writer to have ever been published on TC. His writing is beautiful, poetic, and so moving. Here are some of my favourite excerpts from Cody’s writing:
But Neruda must have felt like this once must have sat on a bench and watched and crafted love out of something like a piece of tissue held in hands wrinkled and glass fragile but now they’ve left and the woman too and a plump grey cloud rolls above my head.
– It’s Been A While Since Anyone Cared Enough
For him, you will be the light at the end of the tunnel, the halo of glowing yellow that he has been waiting for. Never forget that you are someone worth steering for, someone worth the swift kick in the opposite direction worth all of the trials and checklists and almostrights because you are a mountaintop, the crush of violet on skin from a rainbow that seems so close to the earth that it must be real.
Because even if we ran out of things to say I don’t think it’d bother me much don’t think it would send my bones to rattle and okay maybe I talk too much and try to connect too much and maybe the line I said about your heart beat didn’t sound as poetic out loud as it did in my head but I’m a zany case of skin and I can’t help it that you make me buzz electric and it’s not my fault that in my mind we’re just two lightning bugs like darting stars in tall grass
– All The Things I Want To Say To You
Help me to seize more color of this world. Help me to toss the sails to wade waist-deep in water too cold because someone said they didn’t want to go in alone. Help me to remember times in which I’ve been sad and hurt when talking to people who are sad and hurt and help me to pepper the mundane with adventure.
– Help!
I imagine a boy who became a man before he’d realized it. A case full of old instruments, loose paper. His hands have roughened, but are gentler now. They’ve learned how to hold other hands without getting clammy. He reads his old journals and chuckles at the sentimentality of it all.
– Future
Cody no longer writes for Thought Catalog, but all of his articles can still be found on his author page. He currently posts new pieces and poems on his blog and you can keep updated by following him on Twitter. If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve been exposed to so far, I also highly recommend you buy his eBook, A Slow Moving Something. It’s a collection of essays and poems about his time studying abroad in Madrid. If you’re like me and are sans eReader, you can download a free Kindle app on your phone/macbook and read it that way.
I don’t think I’d ever be so bold as to call myself a writer but I do love it. And I think it’s so important to keep myself growing, learning, and inspired through other people’s writing. Cody’s writing has always inspired me. I love the honesty in his narratives. I love how he writes of experiences and feelings so personal, but they still somehow feel like my own after I’m finished reading. I love the way he strings together words to create glowing images in my mind. I love the lack of structure, how his sentences flow and melt together.
I hope you love his work as much as I do; I hope it moves and inspires you. Happy Wednesday!
| alex
Streamers of Stardust 