L'Étranger

When I first stumbled upon Mik’s writing, I was taken away. And when I met him for the first time, I felt like I had known him for a lifetime… I am usually a reluctant conversationist, but Mik managed to bring out a (somewhat) talkative side of me that I never knew existed. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t expending ridiculous amounts of energy to stay attentive in a conversation. He mentioned that The Stranger (novel) changed his life as well, but more on that later. I asked Mik to write something for the blog. He was more than happy to do so. The following is a guest entry by Mik Pozin entitled Uncover and Writhe for Me.

Listen to the voice in your head as you read this line. This is as true as you will ever sound. Every expressed subtlety and every defining cadence is the portrait of the uninhibited you.

Forget every time you’ve ever second-guessed your spoken word. Never again dwell on every moment you spent unable to relay your thoughts without tripping over your limbs and questioning your nervous glances.

Maybe one day, you will speak as freely as you think–full of whim, character, and the authentic personality that has forever been in dear demand and starved supply.

Read more lines and cultivate your thoughts. Between what you are told to think and what you truly wish to say lies a great chasm that few cross.

But literature makes you honest. It validates every feeling you’ve ever had that something was off center. Find your passion reverberating, your gut wrenching, and your mouth drying from what were once deemed mere words on a page.

And so you will find in literature both life and death, our origins and our future, and at last, the unfiltered truth.

Literature dances a dance no less intricate than snowflakes. Hundreds of rules and laws and patterns and dynamics and situational prerequisites govern the micro-creation of a macro wonder. Look upon an open book and see fresh fallen snow. Indulge your childlike wonder and remark at the beauty that order creates and entropy molds.

Let your winds blow and craft intricate patterns. Your imagination will thank you. It’s been on hold long enough while you waited for entertainment to pander to you. But watching is passive. It renders you mute. Even the strongest of men will flee a room of absolute silence in under an hour. Yet so many of us spend years, if not our entire lives, as prisoners in precisely such deprivation.

Read, because it is the only way you will be able to conquer yourself. A song may give you the words to get by, but books will give you the voice to prosper.

Read, because it is the only candid user experience, wherein you take the center stage.

Read, because it is the only art form through which you create by receiving. It accepts you when its tale and the ones latent within you fuse. It asks for nothing in return, so bask and let the soul of the author jive through your voice.

Listen to yourself. The frequency at which you vibrate resonates in your words. Your greatest harmony is your mind speaking the very same unified stories that underpin our peculiar time here.

Go, uncover a book, because your voice is what this age is looking for and we writhe to dance to your words.

Gigantic thanks to Demi Chen for the lovely photography, Rachel Vincent for creative direction, Mik Pozin for his lovely words, and Rizzoli Bookstore for the stunning shoot location.

Rizzoli Bookstore is located on 31st W57th St (between 5th & 6th Ave). They have an incredible collection of books available in a variety of languages. You must visit the bookstore if you’re interested in fashion, art history, architecture, interior design, or travel. I have never seen such a finely curated selection of books in Manhattan!