Marie Anzalone > Quotes

“And still, still, there is more to describe-
we paint because drawing breath is an agony
and exhaling an ecstasy
and somewhere in the space in-between
we think we once found a truth;
and the eternal part of us desires
to share this truth at all costs
only it's never quite how we pictured it,
and it's never quite received the way we want
and the paint drips with our own blood
the handles of our brushes are our own bones
our own tears become the words to our most beautiful love songs
and we know we'll never get it right before we die-

getting up every morning and facing our own limited truth
is a courage so divine
most men quell and women stay enslaved in silence.”
― Marie Anzalone, A Pilgrimage in Epistles: Poems as Letters and Observations

“Just ask any subjugated thing-
a wife, population, race,
deferred dream and
resource misappropriated,
or continental plate;
and it will tell you stories
of inevitable fault lines
of not-quite-stray bullets
and strike slip boundaries,
places where intensity builds
and lets off small or great sparks,”
― Marie Anzalone, Peregrinating North-South Compass Points: Poems in English and Spanish

“More than a father’s daughter,

more than husband’s spouse

your soul is here to know love,

your body yours to decide how and when

and with whom and under what circumstances

that happens. You owe nothing to no-one.



Your thoughts are more than parents

your morality greater than church

your nutrition more than food

your steps greater than toil,

your concerns are not whining

your fears are neither stupid nor vain

your heart is more than Mother

your value more than a face

your fingers more than service.”
― Marie Anzalone, Non-Utilitarian Living: Poems in English and Spanish

“Our landscapes are marked

by the presence of grand trees.

And what are trees,

but love stories written by terra firma

in praise of all the heavens offer?



There are hundreds of ways

to scribe your love story

to reach a Sublime Result.

Just ask the oak.



All 600 species.



III.

Our own story will not be written

in chronological order.

Love was never meant

to keep you in your comfort zone.

It was designed- to feed, challenge, grow,

and sustain you. To fracture you gently,

drown you in small increments.

Continental drift you into

Pure Consciousness.



And I am learning:

to have the patience

of geologic processes. My blood

turns to lava, my breath to ash,

my love to eons, to measures of time

and movement imperceptible

at most moments.”
― Marie Anzalone, Non-Utilitarian Living: Poems in English and Spanish

“I want to undress you forever:

unbutton every fear, unzip each

desire; strip you of all burdens;

slowly, each act an unveiling, a desire

to see you naked, to draw every



scar to my mouth, to know the

story of every small piece. To worship

each perfect imperfection, to feel

the water as it surges through you.

I make you a constant.”
― Marie Anzalone, Non-Utilitarian Living: Poems in English and Spanish

“We stood as the ground shifted
and we saw the view from below
through tiled floors
and concrete stairs,
our feet burning holes in the foundation
while you whispered of dreams.”
― Marie Anzalone, Peregrinating North-South Compass Points: Poems in English and Spanish