Reem
https://www.goodreads.com/ayanrea
“Native Soil
There's
Nobody simpler than us, or with
more pride, or fewer tears.
(1922)
Our hearts don't wear it as an amulet,
it doesn't sob beneath the poet's hand,
nor irritate the wounds we can't forget
in our bitter sleep. It's not the Promised Land.
Our souls don't calculate its worth
as a commodity to be sold and bought;
sick, and poor, and silent on this earth,
often we don't give it a thought.
Yes, for us it's the dirt on our galoshes,
yes, for us it's the grit between our teeth.
Dust, and we grind and crumble and crush it,
the gentle and unimplicated earth.
But we'll lie in it, become its weeds and flowers,
so unembarrassedly we call it - ours.”
― Selected Poems
There's
Nobody simpler than us, or with
more pride, or fewer tears.
(1922)
Our hearts don't wear it as an amulet,
it doesn't sob beneath the poet's hand,
nor irritate the wounds we can't forget
in our bitter sleep. It's not the Promised Land.
Our souls don't calculate its worth
as a commodity to be sold and bought;
sick, and poor, and silent on this earth,
often we don't give it a thought.
Yes, for us it's the dirt on our galoshes,
yes, for us it's the grit between our teeth.
Dust, and we grind and crumble and crush it,
the gentle and unimplicated earth.
But we'll lie in it, become its weeds and flowers,
so unembarrassedly we call it - ours.”
― Selected Poems
“I don’t know how to be silent when my heart is speaking.”
― White Nights
― White Nights
“I had only one desire: to leave, to walk, to die, whatever. I wanted to get away, never come back, disappear, melt away into the forest, the clouds, no longer have memories, forget, forget.”
― Yesterday
― Yesterday
“burning in hell
this piece of me fits in nowhere as other people find things
to do
with their time
places to go
with one another
things to say
to each other.
Iam
burning in hell
some place north of Mexico. flowers don’t grow here.
I am not like
other people
other people are like other people.
they are all alike: joining grouping huddling
they are both gleeful and content andIam
burning in hell.
my heart is a thousand years old.
I am not like other people.
I’d die on their picnic grounds smothered by their flags slugged by their songs unloved by their soldiers gored by their humor murdered by their concern.
I am not like other people. Iam
burning in hell.
the hell of myself.”
― Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way: New Poems
this piece of me fits in nowhere as other people find things
to do
with their time
places to go
with one another
things to say
to each other.
Iam
burning in hell
some place north of Mexico. flowers don’t grow here.
I am not like
other people
other people are like other people.
they are all alike: joining grouping huddling
they are both gleeful and content andIam
burning in hell.
my heart is a thousand years old.
I am not like other people.
I’d die on their picnic grounds smothered by their flags slugged by their songs unloved by their soldiers gored by their humor murdered by their concern.
I am not like other people. Iam
burning in hell.
the hell of myself.”
― Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way: New Poems
“My story starts at sea, a perilous voyage to an unknown land. A shipwreck. The wild waters roar and heave. The brave vessel is dashed all to pieces. And all the helpless souls within her drowned. All save one. A lady. Whose soul is greater than the ocean, and her spirit stronger than the sea's embrace. Not for her a watery end, but a new life beginning on a stranger shore. It will be a love story. For she will be my heroine for all time. And her name will be Viola."
"She was incomprehensible, for, in her, soul and spirit were one - the beauty of her body was the essence of her soul. She was that unity sought for by philosophers through many centuries. In this outdoor waiting room of winds and stars she had been sitting for a hundred years, at peace in the contemplation of herself."
"He knew that there was passion there, but there was no shadow of it in her eyes or on her mouth; there was a faint spray of champagne on her breath. She clung nearer desperately and once more he kissed her and was chilled by the innocence of her kiss, by the glance that at the moment of contact looked beyond him out into the darkness of the night, the darkness of the world."
"Her heart sank into her shoes as she realized at last how much she wanted him. No matter what his past was, no matter what he had done. Which was not to say that she would ever let him know, but only that he moved her chemically more than anyone she had ever met, that all other men seemed pale beside him."
"I used to build dreams about you."
"Then she kissed him until the sky seemed to fade out and all her smiles and tears to vanish in an ecstasy of eternal seconds.”
―
"She was incomprehensible, for, in her, soul and spirit were one - the beauty of her body was the essence of her soul. She was that unity sought for by philosophers through many centuries. In this outdoor waiting room of winds and stars she had been sitting for a hundred years, at peace in the contemplation of herself."
"He knew that there was passion there, but there was no shadow of it in her eyes or on her mouth; there was a faint spray of champagne on her breath. She clung nearer desperately and once more he kissed her and was chilled by the innocence of her kiss, by the glance that at the moment of contact looked beyond him out into the darkness of the night, the darkness of the world."
"Her heart sank into her shoes as she realized at last how much she wanted him. No matter what his past was, no matter what he had done. Which was not to say that she would ever let him know, but only that he moved her chemically more than anyone she had ever met, that all other men seemed pale beside him."
"I used to build dreams about you."
"Then she kissed him until the sky seemed to fade out and all her smiles and tears to vanish in an ecstasy of eternal seconds.”
―
Reem’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Reem’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Art, Classics, Ebooks, Fantasy, Fiction, History, Memoir, Non-fiction, Philosophy, Poetry, and Psychology
Polls voted on by Reem
Lists liked by Reem




























