COSMOS

“I… want to inherit the witch in my women ancestors—the willfulness, the passion, ay, the passion where all good art comes from as women, the perseverance, the survivor skills, the courage, the strength of las mujeres bravas, peleoneras, necias, berrinchudas. I want to be una brava, peleonera, necia, berrinchuda. I want to be bad if bad means I must go against society—el Papá, el Pápa, the boyfriend, lover, husband, girlfriends, comadres—and listen to my own heart, that incredible witch’s broom that will take me where I need to go.”

“I was not the woman who breaks into pieces under the blows of abandonment and absence, who goes mad, who dies. Only a few fragments had splintered off, for the rest I was well. I was whole, whole I would remain. To those who hurt me, I react giving back in kind. I am the queen of spades, I am the wasp that stings, I am the dark serpent. I am the invulnerable animal who passes through fire and is not burned.”

“It took many years of vomiting up all the filth I’d been taught about myself, and half-believed, before I was able to walk on the earth as though I had a right to be here.”

“My soul is a hidden orchestra; I know not what instruments, what fiddle strings and harps, drums and tambourines I sound and clash inside myself. All I hear is the symphony.”

It’s too simple to hate the people who have doorways where you have walls.

Nothing is so startling, so awakening, as when someone looks at you and you know they see you. Not just what you’ve polished to smoothness and perfection but the jagged edges, the rough patches, and the uncertain tangles in your center. All of you.

You must live life as if you cannot get hurt.

“It was one of the best days of my life, a day during which I lived my life and didn’t think about my life at all.”

“i am still a clot of blood looking for my skin”

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”