Red Lioness

“Choose your leaders
with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward
is to be controlled
by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool
is to be led
by the opportunists
who control the fool.
To be led by a thief
is to offer up
your most precious treasures
to be stolen.
To be led by a liar
is to ask
to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant
is to sell yourself
and those you love
into slavery.”
― Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents

“black women breathe flowers, too.
just because
we are taught to grow them in the lining of our quiet (our grandmothers secret)
does nor mean
we do not swelter with wild tenderness.
we soft swim.
we petal.
we scent limbs.
love.
we just have been too long a garden for sharp and deadly teeth.
so we
have
grown
ourselfves
into
greenhouses.”
― Nayyirah Waheed, Salt

“When your rage is choking you, it is best to say nothing.”
― Octavia E. Butler, Fledgling

“There is no friend as loyal as a book.”
― Ernest Hemingway