Melissa Lang

“Eventually something you love is going to be taken away. And then you will fall to the floor crying. And then, however much later, it is finally happening to you: you’re falling to the floor crying thinking, “I am falling to the floor crying,” but there’s an element of the ridiculous to it — you knew it would happen and, even worse, while you’re on the floor crying you look at the place where the wall meets the floor and you realize you didn’t paint it very well.”
― Richard Siken

“God break me out of this stiff life I've made”
― Jean Valentine

“Don't listen to the words—
they're only little shapes for what you're saying,
they're only cups if you're thirsty, you aren't thirsty.”
― Jean Valentine, Break the Glass

“Never ran this hard through the valley
never ate so many stars

I was carrying a dead deer
tied on to my neck and shoulders

deer legs hanging in front of me
heavy on my chest

People are not wanting
to let me in

Door in the mountain
let me in”
― Jean Valentine, Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965-2003