maryam

“I'm becoming more a vessel of memories than a person it's a myth /
that love lives in the heart it lives in the throat we push it out /
when we speak when we gasp we take a little for ourselves /

in books love can be war-ending a soldier drops his sword /
to lie forking oysters into his enemy's mouth in life we hold love up to the light /
to marvel at its impotence”
― Kaveh Akbar, Calling a Wolf a Wolf

“You want me to be a tragic backdrop so that you can appear to be illuminated, so that people can say ‘Wow, isn’t he so terribly brave to love a girl who is so obviously sad?’ You think I’ll be the dark sky so you can be the star? I’ll swallow you whole.”
― Warsan Shire