Derek Owusu > Quotes

“I’m watching the day through a breeze blown slice in my curtains, obscuring nothing but my hour, summer and wind making peace, moving the leaves in the trees standing guard by my window, nervous after my attempts, the sun stroking fronds but leaving others in shadows, seeing the movement of the branches but hearing nothing but the serene sound of cars beyond the garden, limbs waving to me as a bird perches, maybe scouting for a house, onto the bough scratching the glass, knocking to bring me out into contentment while tiny flies shoot in and out of view, their quick existence something I could argue as I smell the fresh air through the dour scent of a depression that hasn’t left my room in days, then swiftly feeling like I’m outside, alive and welcoming the wind to raise the hairs on my arms, a contrast that blossoms into hope.”
― Derek Owusu, That Reminds Me

“After a late-night library trip I’d call her and say, ‘Look at the moon.’ Black boys rarely speak on the poet’s muse so these twilight tropes seemed original – the moon is glowing new when seen through eyes deprived of cliché.”
― Derek Owusu, That Reminds Me

“Anansi, your four gift s raised to Nyame grant you no power over the stories I tell, stories that build like dew, alerting you but creating no music when they drop onto the drums of our sky. Take my ‘gift ’, words bound in time, directly to him and tell me if his features betray recognition or sorrow.”
― Derek Owusu, That Reminds Me

“I wanted to live again. As they gathered, I felt the pressure of each tear awake to its own trickling sand weighing down the dirt on my grave.”
― Derek Owusu, That Reminds Me

“As I walk home, doubting each step before I make it, I am agnostic. Before I close my eyes to sleep, I am a Christian. When I wake, pulled from the pool still reflecting the penumbra, I am spiritual, I am thankful”
― Derek Owusu, That Reminds Me

“Anansi, your four gifts raised to Nyame grant you no power over the stories I tell, stories that build like dew, alerting you but creating no music when they drop onto the drums of our sky. Take my ‘gift ’, words bound in time, directly to him and tell me if his features betray recognition or sorrow.”
― Derek Owusu, That Reminds Me