Muneeba Rafiq

“Being a woman was a trap. Something would bring you down before you were twenty-three. The only time the world shows you any favor, or cuts you any slack, is during that very brief period of courtship where the world is trying to fuck you for the first time.”
― Heather O'Neill, The Lonely Hearts Hotel

“i am relieved.
when
i see the feminine presence
in a man’s eyes.
it means
he is a peace
i do not
have
to
bring to him.

–– ease”
― Nayyirah Waheed, Salt