Shera Risper

“Poetry began in the matriarchal age, and derives its magic from the moon, not from the sun. No poet can hope to understand the nature of poetry unless he has had a vision of the Naked King crucified to the lopped oak, and watched the dancers, red-eyed from the acrid smoke of the sacrificial fires, stamping out the measure of the dance, their bodies bent uncouthly forward, with a monotonous chant of "Kill! kill! kill!" and "Blood! blood! blood!”
― Robert Graves, The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth

“Together let us hold the intention that all aspects of this living planet come together in love, acceptance, and celebration of both our diversities and commonalities. Let us possess the common purpose that we heal from our hearts into compassion and forgiveness for ourselves. Together let us own the belief that we will no longer unite with blame and judgement, but come to accept that we all carry the same wounds. In acknowledging this, the hope is for the whole planet in its jubilant diversity to be healed from any and all woundings so that we come together on equal footing, living in peace and joy and setting the tone for a future of harmony within and on this planet.
Peace to all and healing to all.”
― Wendy E. Slater, Of the Flame, Poems - Volume 15

“We who burrow in filth every day may be forgiven perhaps the one sin that ends all sins.”
― Vladimir Nabokov

“...sentences swallowed and sung back and swallowed all over again. She was made entirely out of words.”
― Emma Donoghue, Landing