Briana

“Things you can buy
with half a million dollars:

a car that looks more
like a space creature than a car.

A designer platinum purse
to carry a small dog. A small dog.

A performance by your favorite
musical artist for your birthday.

A diamond-encrusted
bottle of Dominican rum.

A mansion. A yacht. A hundred
acres of land. Houses, but not homes.

All four years of college
or beautician school & certificate.

Five hundred flights
to the Dominican Republic.

A half million Dollar Store chess sets,
with their accompanying boxes.

A hundred thousand copies
of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Apparently a father.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“Can you be from a place
you have never been?

You can find the island stamped all over me,
but what would the island find if I was there?

Can you claim a home that does not know you,
much less claim you as its own?”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land

“Who do you call when your husband dies and you're twenty-four years old, alone in Afghanistan?
Who do you call when the only voice you want to hear no longer exists?”
― Claire Gibson, Beyond the Point

“The rest of the world has moved on
to bigger & juicier news;
so many of us here seem suspended

in time, still waiting for more
information, still hoping
this is a nightmare we'll wake from.”
― Elizabeth Acevedo, Clap When You Land