Noor Mohammad

“Mami wanted me to be a lady:
sit up straight, cross my ankles,

let men protect me.
Papi wanted me to be a leader.

To think quick & strike hard,
to speak rarely, but when I did,

to always be heard. Me?
Playing chess taught me a queen is both:

deadly & graceful, poised & ruthless.
Quiet & cunning. A queen

offers her hand to be kissed,

& can form it into a fist
while smiling the whole damn time.

But what happens when those principles
only apply in a game? & in the real world,

I am not treated as a lady or a queen,
as a defender or opponent

but as a girl so many want to strike off the board.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“وهل بمقدورنا فهم الأشياء التي نحدسها بغريزتنا؟ ألا توجد أماكن نحس فيها تلقائياً أننا نتنفّس الحزن؟ لماذا؟ لا ندري، ربما بتأثيرٍ من ذكرى من نزوةِ فكرٍ تحملنا إلى أزمنة أخرى و أمكنة أخرى، أزمنةٍ و أمكنةٍ ربما لا تجمعَها أي علاقة بالزمان والمكان الذي نوجد فيه." ~الكونت دي مونت كريستو”
― الكسندر دوماس, The Count of Monte Cristo

“What were you before you met me?"
"I think I was drowning"
"And what are you now?"
"Water”
― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

“The slow overture of rain,
each drop breaking
without breaking into
the next, describes
the unrelenting, syncopated
mind. Not unlike
the hummingbirds
imagining their wings
to be their heart, and swallows
believing the horizon
to be a line they lift
and drop.

—Jorie Graham, from “Mind,” Hybrids of Plants and of Ghosts. (Princeton University Press; First Edition edition June 21, 1980)”
― Jorie Graham, Hybrids of Plants and of Ghosts