Abby

“When they ask you
where you're from,
tell them your name
was fleshed from the toothless mouth
of a war-woman.
That you were not born
but crawled, headfirst --
into the hunger of dogs. My son, tell them
the body is a blade that sharpens
by cutting.”
― Ocean Vuong, Night Sky with Exit Wounds

“just for once i want a love
that feels like plunging my flushed cheeks
into deep soft snow”
― Takuboku Ishikawa, A Handful of Sand

“The way your mother rolls her eyes at you, your sudden decision to stop eating red meat, the immediate unexplainable sadness you felt when you saw your father’s shirt draped over the back of a chair. You can write it all down, you can put it in your book of facts, but the truth is no one can ever really understand the tangle of experiences and passions that makes you who you are. It’s a secret collection, a private language, a pebble in your pocket that you play with when you’re anxious, hard as geometry, smooth as soap.”
― Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory