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“Can you be from a place you have never been? You can find the island stamped all over me, but what would the island find if I was there? Can you claim a home that does not know you, much less claim you as its own?”
― Clap When You Land
― Clap When You Land
“If you are not from an island.
you cannot understand
what it means to be of water:
to learn to curve around the bend,
to learn to rise with rain,
to learn to quench an outside thirst
while all the while
you grow shallow
until there is not one drop
left for you.
I know this is what Tia does not say.
Sand & soil & sinew & smiles:
all bartered. & who reaps? Who eats?
Not us. Not me.”
― Clap When You Land
you cannot understand
what it means to be of water:
to learn to curve around the bend,
to learn to rise with rain,
to learn to quench an outside thirst
while all the while
you grow shallow
until there is not one drop
left for you.
I know this is what Tia does not say.
Sand & soil & sinew & smiles:
all bartered. & who reaps? Who eats?
Not us. Not me.”
― Clap When You Land
“Swimming might be the closest to flying a human being can get. There is something about your body displacing water in order to propel through space that makes you feel Godtouched. That makes me understand evolution, that we really must have crawled up from the sea.”
― Clap When You Land
― Clap When You Land
“Papi learned to swim in water that wanted to kill him.
That ocean can't be so different; shouldn't be any different.
If any man could take a hard dive & come up breathing,
it should be one who had practiced for just that his entire life.”
― Clap When You Land
That ocean can't be so different; shouldn't be any different.
If any man could take a hard dive & come up breathing,
it should be one who had practiced for just that his entire life.”
― Clap When You Land
“Does anyone ever
want to leave their home?
The fresh fruit that drops from their backyard?
The neighbors who wiped their snot?
Does anyone ever
want to believe they won't come back?
To the dog that sniffs their heel,
to the bed that holds the echo of their body?
Is there relief in pretending it is temporary,
that one day it will be safe? That I will once again
wave to the kind school bus driver;
that I'll hold Carline's baby before he grows,
having never known me? They have no palm
trees in New York City, no leaves to shade me,
to brush against my cheeks like my mother's hands.
There is no one over there, alive or buried,
who held me as a child, who cradled me close,
who fed me from their table, who wiped my knees when
I fell & scraped them. Here, despite the bad & ugly,
is my home. & now I wish that I could stay. Does anyone ever
want to leave the place they love?”
― Clap When You Land
want to leave their home?
The fresh fruit that drops from their backyard?
The neighbors who wiped their snot?
Does anyone ever
want to believe they won't come back?
To the dog that sniffs their heel,
to the bed that holds the echo of their body?
Is there relief in pretending it is temporary,
that one day it will be safe? That I will once again
wave to the kind school bus driver;
that I'll hold Carline's baby before he grows,
having never known me? They have no palm
trees in New York City, no leaves to shade me,
to brush against my cheeks like my mother's hands.
There is no one over there, alive or buried,
who held me as a child, who cradled me close,
who fed me from their table, who wiped my knees when
I fell & scraped them. Here, despite the bad & ugly,
is my home. & now I wish that I could stay. Does anyone ever
want to leave the place they love?”
― Clap When You Land
PLANET EARTH: what a beauty!
— 303 members
— last activity Dec 08, 2025 01:56AM
Esploratori della natura e amanti della scienza. Libri, viaggi, curiosità e tanto altro. Gruppo di lettura attivo principalmente su Telegram: https ...more
Viaggio nell'Emisfero Boreale
— 342 members
— last activity Sep 04, 2022 11:46AM
Gruppo che focalizza le sue letture sulla letteratura nordica soprattutto di autori provenienti dai paesi del nord del mondo più in specifico: paesi s ...more
Maria’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Maria’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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