Emefa Anka

“I know what ugly looks like
when it departs from your mouth fully formed.

How the words can push space between two people;
how it's close to impossible to collapse that space.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“To think quick & strike hard, to speak rarely, but when I did, to always be heard.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“I tug on my graduation dress, that was my priest meeting dress,
that is now my visa interview dress. I am clothed

in beginnings & endings. A lucky & unlucky garment.
But isn't every life adorned with both?”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“If you asked me what I was,

& you meant in terms of culture,
I’d say Dominican.

No hesitation,
no question about it.

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?”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land