MOMENTS

TO HOLD
CLOSE

Molly Burford
 M O M E N T S T O H O L D C L O S E

Types Of People You Need To Hang On To, Part 1

Enthusiastic listeners. People who don’t make you guess if

they’re mad. Direct communicators. The friend who helps
you clean your room. People who are kind to those who
can do nothing for them. Messy folks who repeatedly get it
wrong but never stop trying to get it right anyway. Kindred
spirits. Loud laughers. Pals who make the grocery store
fun. Loved ones who get as excited about your success as
you do. The person you feel comfortable crying in front of.
Sing-in-the-car friends. People who text you to look at the
moon. People who text you just to say hi. The one you’ve
known since childhood who you can go a long time without
talking to but nothing changes. Those who understand the
value of holding space. The mentor who pushes you to do
better because they want better for you. Patient teachers.
Healers. Scrappy souls. Hard workers. Friends you can joke
about hypothetical situations with for hours on end. The
genuine. Anyone who leaves you feeling good afterward,
not just when you’re with them. People who see your fault
lines and say they have them too. Anyone who came to
mind as you read this. Hold them close. Love them hard.

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 M O M E N T S T O H O L D C L O S E

Types Of People To Hold On To, Part 2

People who tell you tough truths in a gentle way, who don’t
say things cruelly just because it’s “honest.” People who
don’t start sentences with, “No offense, but…” People who
are kind to those who can do nothing for them. People who
call you on your bullshit in a funny way to make it easier
to hear. People who will take pictures for strangers, taking
shots from multiple angles. People who don’t make you feel
bad for wanting to call it an early night. People who make
you forget your phone. People who sincerely listen to little
kids, who remember how hard it was to be small and young
and not taken seriously. People who always try their best to
do the right thing and attempt to make it up when they fall
short. People who still believe in love, even after they got
their hearts broken time and time again. People who are
deeply kind and do not stray from being so, even when they
have every reason not to be. Hold them close, love them hard.

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 M O L L Y B U R F O R D

The intimacy of…

Eye contact. Smirks across a crowded room. Raised eye-

brows. Knowing glances. Witty banter.”I heard this song
and thought of you.” The sides of legs accidentally touching
in the backseat. Dancing in front of strangers. Playful teas-
ing. “I saved you a seat.” Comfortable silences. Quiet time.
Falling asleep together on the couch. “I’m so sorry.” Hope.
The little things. Inside jokes. Appreciation. Mutual trust.
“You’re my best friend.” Crying in the car alone at a red
light. Heart-to-hearts in dive bar bathrooms. Giving the
benefit of the doubt. Giving a second chance. Giving in
to a deep laugh. “I was literally just about to call you, too.”
Sharing books with your scribbles and notes throughout the
margins. Losing your footing. “I never told another person
that before.” First hugs. A kiss you know will be your last. “I
understand.” A sense of safety. A feeling of alignment. Just
knowing someone is here to stay, even though you have no
real evidence for thinking so. Believing they will anyway.

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 M O M E N T S T O H O L D C L O S E

A List Of People Always Worth Loving

Your childhood best friend, even if you’ve long lost touch.

The ones who make your humanity feel less heavy. The
person who inspires you to do better. The person who
inspires you to be kinder. The person who inspires you to
dream bigger. The stranger you met in passing that you
never forgot. Your college roommates who helped you
become who you are today. Loyal friends. Patient listeners.
Gentle speakers. Your eight-year-old self. The people you
call family (blood or otherwise). Hope seekers. Those who
stayed. Those who left. The ex who showed you how to love.
The former best friend who taught you the importance of
perspective. Your high school German teacher who believed
in you when you didn’t believe in yourself. The curious. The
spritely. The sincere. Anyone who touched your soul in some
way, who invited it out and allowed it to exist as all that it
is, was, and will be.

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M O M E N T S T O H O L D C L O S E

Love is about seeing

someone’s scars and
remembering you
have them too.

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M O M E N T S T O H O L D C L O S E

How To Find Your People

Let go of those who have already

let go of you. See who remains.

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 M O M E N T S T O H O L D C L O S E

The Quietest Signs Of Passing Time

Wrinkles. Age spots. Tan lines. Callused souls. Crimson

ravines along your stomach. Crinkled eyes. Twilight. Lost
memories. October leaves. Lukewarm coffee. The sunrise
in an ever-shapeshifting sky. Dusty bookshelves. Healed
wounds. Disinterested glances. Dropping temperatures.
Sunburned shoulders. The pool closing at the end of sum-
mer. Sleepy bones. Faded jeans. Broken promises. Threads
of gray. Missing the bus. Melting ice. Expiration dates.
How it’s suddenly Christmas even though you could have
sworn last month was August. Timestamps from unan-
swered texts. Funerals for the people you loved since you
were young. Remembering it’s someone’s birthday you lost
touch with years ago. Realizing you’re unsure what year
that was. The end of a song. The end of an era. The end
of a relationship. Low tides. Stale feelings. Regret. Scars.
Waking up one day and realizing you’re not who you used
to be. Seeing someone you used to love but now not feel-
ing a thing. When friends become strangers. When strangers
become soulmates.

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 M O L L Y B U R F O R D

The Best Types Of Inspiration

Empty spaces. Shadows of tree branches dancing in the

summer wind. Mistakes. Hard lessons. Difficult goodbyes.
A damn good thunderstorm. Romantic comedies. Vintage
clothes. Old magazines. 3 AM. Oil paintings. Rough hands.
Curated Spotify playlists. Forgotten furniture on the side
of the road. Taking the scenic route home. Dogs look-
ing out the window. Love. Loss. Longing. Remembering
why you started. Remembering what you adored as a kid.
Remembering that you’re still allowed to enjoy those things
now. Serendipity. Grace. Hard work. Looking up from your
phone. People-watching. Heartbreak. First dates. Last
kisses. Final words. Deep conversations. Boredom. Asking
more questions. Answering your own musings. Listening
intently to what the quiet has to say. Thrift stores. Charcoal.
Sketchbooks. Memoirs. Documentaries. 1960s newspapers.
Feeling everything that you do and feeling it deeply.

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 M O L L Y B U R F O R D

Healing is…

Appreciating autumn again. Keeping both your feet planted

firmly on the ground. Admitting you’re hurting. Asking for
help. Offering a hand. Laughing uproariously. Accepting
what you can’t control and taking charge of what you
can. Allowing room for grace and sleeping in on Sunday
mornings and afternoon walks in the winter when the sun
finally stops by to say hello. Holding yourself accountable.
Spending time with the people who feel like hope. Facing
yourself. Facing your haunting. Facing forward anyway.
Remembering you can always try again. Trying again.
And again, And again. Bleeding poetry. Stitching up the
heart you intentionally ripped off your sleeve. Blasting
“Chinatown” on repeat while cleaning your room for the
first time in months. Seeing your therapist on the days
you’d rather hide. Reminding yourself it’s going to be okay.
Believing what you just said. Crying your eyes out to “Scott
Street.” Telling shame you did the best you could with
the tools you had at the time. Realizing you deserve to get
better. Getting better as a result.

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 M O M E N T S T O H O L D C L O S E

You are allowed to outgrow the life you thought

you wanted. You are under no obligation to stay
in places you no longer want to be, even if those
places exist only in your mind and heart. You’re
allowed to move on. You’re allowed to evolve.
You’re allowed to change. You’re allowed to
become who you actually are.

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 M O L L Y B U R F O R D

Read This When You Forget Your Worth

When you forget your worth, please know that you are
not an afterthought. You are not an idea that needs mull-
ing over. You are not an option. You are not second best.
And anyone who makes you feel any of those ways doesn’t
deserve you anyway.

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 M O L L Y B U R F O R D

Rules For Living Well

Speak up when you’re hurt. Slow down when you’re happy.

Trust good things when they come along. Wear the crop
top. Give yourself more credit. Forgive what needs forgive-
ness, including yourself. Take the chance. Eat the pasta. Be
kind, even when it’s hard (especially then). Work like hell
on what matters to you. Cut the excess. Dabble in overin-
dulgence every now and then, too. Tell someone when you
love them (even if they don’t necessarily feel it back). Hope
for the best but accept whatever happens anyway. Lean into
the present moment as often as you can. Sweat it out. Cry it
out. Let it go. Spend enough time alone. Become someone
you can call a friend. Put yourself out there. Admit when
you fucked up. Stop over-explaining your heart to those
committed to misunderstanding it. Offer a hand to those
who need it. Ask for help when that person is you. Pick
your battles. Choose your family. Buy jeans in your actual
size, not your “goal” size. Retire the idea of a “goal” size at
all. Allow room for messiness. Read what you actually like,
not what you think you should be reading. Define success on
your own terms. Listen to the music that feels like home.
Listen to the people who feel like magic. Listen to your
heart because you deserve to hear what it has to say. Feel
everything it is you do. Life is short. You might as well
experience it fully while you’re here.

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M O L L Y B U R F O R D is a writer from Detroit. Her
work aims to capture the human condition in all of its forms
including the beautiful, the painful, the ugly, the goofy, and
all of those in-between parts we try and hide away. Moments
To Hold Close is Burford’s first poetry collection.

You can find Burford on Instagram at @mollyburford, on

Twitter @mburf 92, or at mollyburford.com.

If you have tips for her on how to meet Pete Davidson or

other general inquiries, you can email her at:
burfordmolly@gmail.com.
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 Moments To
Hold Close
by Molly Burford

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