Preeti

“Even though trauma has a way of
becoming the wallpaper of my head,

watch me drag the art
out of my suffering.

Watch me plant seeds down my spine
and bloom into a garden of poetry

from every horrible thing that has ever
happened to me, all the nights my voice
turned to cement and I couldn't say anything-

Watch me build an empire from the ashes
of everything that tried to destroy me.”
― Blythe Baird, If My Body Could Speak

“Children’s novels...spoke and still speak of hope. They say: look, this is what bravery looks like. This is what generosity looks like. They tell me, through the medium of wizards and lions and talking spiders, that this world we live in is a world of people who tell jokes and work and endure. Children’s books say: the world is huge. They say: hope counts for something. They say: bravery will matter, wit will matter, empathy will matter, love will matter. These things may or may not be true. I do not know. I hope they are.”
― Katherine Rundell, Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise

“Half daughter,

half apology, all fire and the wrong kind of love.”
― Blythe Baird, If My Body Could Speak

“come back to the city it was easiest for you to breathe in”
― Blythe Baird, If My Body Could Speak