Melanie

“I lay there silently,
hoarding my small dignity.
I did not ask about the gate or the closet.
I did not question the bedtime ritual
where, on the cold bathroom tiles,
I was spread out daily
and examined for flaws.

I did not know
that my bones,
those solids, those pieces of sculpture
would not splinter.”
― Anne Sexton, The Complete Poems

“Don't bite till you know if it's bread or stone.”
― Anne Sexton, The Complete Poems

“I am a collection of dismantled almosts.”
― Anne Sexton, Anne Sexton: A Self-Portrait in Letters

“Need is not quite belief.”
― Anne Sexton, All My Pretty Ones