What is the shape of loneliness, and can we make friends with it?
You can read the full version of ghost below.
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ghost is inspired by Korean "gwishin" (귀신), or spirits of the deceased stuck in the afterlife who remain on earth to complete some unfulfilled purpose, haunting the living.
Mul gwishin (물귀신) are water ghosts, the lonely spirits of drowned souls that stay lurking in the cold watery depths.
Hence the phrase in Korean, 물귀신 작전, or "water ghost tactics," which colloquially refers to someone who drags you into the mess they're already in as a kind of sabotage.
If I'm going down, you're coming down with me.
Spooky lingering souls notwithstanding, we all carry our own kinds of ghosts with us, even before we pass to the other side: feelings that haunt and subsume us, traumatic moments from our past, creeping dread for future anxieties to come.
ghost wonders what might happen if we listen carefully to those whispering voices, and maybe even say something back. Instead of getting dragged in, could we pull each other out, and go somewhere lovelier?
Can you speak something into existence, or destroy something simply by naming it?
What does it take to transform a teardrop into a playful splash?
Maybe the potential to shift night into dawn lies in every moment, if we pay attention. So long as we're brave to say something, somebody, somewhere, will say something back.
So don't you dare be lonely without me next time.
Let's be lonely together.
Special thanks to Esther Couch, Courtney Yu, and Alder Ha. <3
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