Autumn

“You couldn't relive your life, skipping the awful parts, without losing what made it worthwhile. You had to accept it as a whole--like the world, or the person you loved.”
― Stewart O'Nan, The Odds: A Love Story

“Poetry has been the longest pleasure of my life.”
― Shirley Hazzard

“I suspect the truth is that we are waiting, all of us, against insurmountable odds, for something extraordinary to happen to us.”
― Khaled Hosseini, And the Mountains Echoed

“The world rising
can put an end
to anything:
the murder of children
whales
elephants
oceans.
Get up. Roll over
on that part
of you
that will not
welcome
recognize
encourage
or even see
our rise.
A compassionate roll:
we must be done
with cruelty
especially to ourselves,
to start again
beaming like the sun;
fresh.
But a roll that shows
we’ve reached the end
of polite moves
to repair and re-create the Earth,
and will press hard
on any parts of us
even those we have loved,
that insist
on remaining
oblivious
and
asleep.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart