one and only

Warsan Shire, from "Extreme Girlhood", Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head

From How to Be Perfect by Ron Padgett

Mary Oliver, from "Starlings in Winter" from Owls and Other Fantasies

From How to Be Perfect by Ron Padgett

shame is sharp, and my skin gives so easy

The Trouble with Being Born, E. M. Cioran (translated by Richard Howard)

Czeslaw Milosz, from "Ars Poetica?"

— Ivan Yan (source)

Forgive yourself

Words from nettles by Ethel Cain

Hanif Abdurraqib, "Glamor on the West Streets / Silver Over Everything"

Dog Woman, Chris Abani

Sandra Cisneros, from "Tea Dance, Provincetown, 1982", Woman Without Shame

Sandra Cisneros, from "Tea Dance, Provincetown, 1982", Woman Without Shame

Iain Reid, I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Sharon Olds; Satan Says