POETRY STARTERS, from my favorite poets. includes: kinsale drake, linda hogan, trista mateer, whitney hanson, hania rafaqat, nikita gill, tayi tibble, leanne howe.
"nothing hurts more than to feel your heart is in pieces and to be told to 'look on the bright side, it's all for good purpose and reason'."
"i saw a strawberry moon tonight rising, i learned the word in my language for laugh ... we found it together."
"there are lullabies downtown; the desert moans at night, bringing the smell of cold or a bloody nose."
"so, you who live there now, don't forget to love it, thank it. the place that was once our forest, our ponds, our mosses, the swamplands with more birds and lowly creatures."
"how does a wound heal when it's not on the body?"
"you can walk around pretending you aren't necessary but the universe is a poet. and one day, the universe decided it would sit down and write you alive, empty stardust into your veins and make you exist."
"i would rather people speak up imperfectly than not speak up at all."
"i hope that you find a love that doesn't require you to read between the lines."
"i hope that you never doubt again. that when you are even in pain, you are a miracle, that every part of you is incredible."
"may my dreams come true. may my enemies eat shit."
"i'm sorry for what i said, and what i didn't say."
"suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. be still, they say. watch and listen. you are the result of the love of thousands."
"and i remember the year we were the two strongest "girl swimmers" in our syndicate. this meant we were forever forced to race the boys for western feminism and you would always win, even against the boys who were so like men the teachers treated them as if they were more muscle than human."
"minutes before the rain begins i always waken, listening to the world hold it's breath."
"you love me, yes. but not in the way i deserve to be loved."
"you are good, and you are whole, and you are not alone or unwanted or weak or standing at the edge of something you can't come all the way back from."
"we have lost the luxury of tenderness. sharpen your teeth."
"i will not forgive what you have done."
"if i have children, i hope they live quiet lives. no fires for them. no sickness. no breaking news stories. i hope they die of old age, far from the pages of history books.
"just to listen to the tavern banter. just to walk around outside, somewhere with clean air and two moons. just to be someone again with a clear purpose and enough goals to keep moving forward."
blakekathryn
romaincrisis
