Jasmin Kaur > Quotes

“scream
so that one day
a hundred years from now
another sister will not have to
dry her tears wondering
where in history
she lost her voice”
― Jasmin Kaur

“brother
when did you forget
that the walls of
a woman's body
were once a fortress
protecting you from
a world you were
too fragile for?
she has been
defending you
long before you decided
that she has no place
defending you.”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“in case you were told otherwise
allow me to make this as clear as distilled water
it is never your fault.

their hands are only their hands. they are not trip wire
that can be set off by your tongue. or your actions.
or your mistakes.

their bodies are only their bodies. they do not disobey
their owners or forget to follow orders.

their decisions are only their decisions.
you did not make them do this.”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“Depression
is this ghost
that looms
over my
shoulder
& nobody
seems to
believe
in spirits.”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“sometimes family doesn't fit
within the lines
that are drawn for us.”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“there is no way
to live in a body
on an earth
in a universe
this complex
and not carry
questions in
your pockets
like accumulated
change
i have come to fear
my lack of answers
far less than humans
who claim to have
them all.”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“in case you were told otherwise
allow me to make this as clear as distilled water
it is never your fault.”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“thank god for friends that were family”
― Jasmin Kaur, If I Tell You the Truth: A Heartrending YA Novel in Poetry Verse - A Story of Trauma, Courage, and Healing

“in the end, it is not the smoke that we all suffocate on

but the

silence”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“this isn't a poem.

instead it's an obituary
for the girl i used to be

the girl who belonged to
everyone but herself

the girl who swallowed
her heart and bit her tongue

the girl who would have
never dared to run.”
― Jasmin Kaur, If I Tell You the Truth: A Heartrending YA Novel in Poetry Verse - A Story of Trauma, Courage, and Healing

“scream
so that one day
a hundred years from now
another sister will not have to
dry her tears wondering
where in history
she lost her voice.”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“family are the ones
who are there when you need them”
― Jasmin Kaur, If I Tell You the Truth: A Heartrending YA Novel in Poetry Verse - A Story of Trauma, Courage, and Healing

“for a moment, someone hears and this is enough.”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“the next time you ask me where i'm going
please recall that i am three parts indecision
and one part reckless abandon
that i have seldom bothered to look back
at the wreckage i've left in my wake and
will never be bothered to master the flames
at my fingertips anyways”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“an ocean pours from her red-rimmed eyes”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“you are light and even the shadow you cast are warm”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“i am told to stop
thinking so much
and i wonder why
it is that in order to
survive in this world
i must not use
my mind.”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“some poems
are water
some poems flow
only from the eyes.”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“Thank you for the courage that your words gave me today.”
― Jasmin Kaur, If I Tell You the Truth: A Heartrending YA Novel in Poetry Verse - A Story of Trauma, Courage, and Healing

“i am not your poem.
i was never your brushtroke.
i am not your tragedy
or your failed attempts to find meaning.”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“i am better at building gates than opening doors”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“everything i felt:

two teaspoons of hope
three tablespoons of fear
six dashes of sadness
and a monsoon of

alone

whatever this was
i hoped she was the antidote.”
― Jasmin Kaur, If I Tell You the Truth: A Heartrending YA Novel in Poetry Verse - A Story of Trauma, Courage, and Healing

“Tomorrow would come and we'd figure it out when we had to, Right now, however, there was only light.”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“the trouble is, there is no way to preserve life in a photograph.”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“i gathered all my
fears into a shield
& tried too hard
to protect you

i didn't know how
to apologize
for loving you

from the place
where i was
broken”
― Jasmin Kaur, If I Tell You the Truth: A Heartrending YA Novel in Poetry Verse - A Story of Trauma, Courage, and Healing

“i have often known
the heaviest hearts
to recite the lightest words
and the burdenless
do not understand
that to dive headfirst
into oceans like ours
is to surely drown”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“this body feels like a cage
and i've lived in it all these years
but it's still an unwelcome stranger.”
― Jasmin Kaur, If I Tell You the Truth: A Heartrending YA Novel in Poetry Verse - A Story of Trauma, Courage, and Healing

“you encounter flowers
scattered across your skin
for the first time, you stop
to sit among them.”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“they say lavender softens anxiety
and i wonder if i can
plant a garden so dense
in your mind
that the knots in your chest unravel
and never tighten again.”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment

“fold the
unfinished
poems of
our people
into paper
lanterns and
release them
let light fill
all the spaces
where words
cannot yet go.”
― Jasmin Kaur, When You Ask Me Where I'm Going: Young Adult Prose Poetry on Trauma, Feminism, and Empowerment