Elisa

“The man on top of you is teaching you how to hate, sees you
as a piece of real estate,
just another fallow field lying underneath him
like a sacrifice.
He’s turning your back into a table so he doesn’t have to
eat off the floor, so he can get comfortable,
pressing against you until he fits, until he’s made a place for himself
inside you.
The clock ticks from five to six. Kissing degenerates into biting.
So you get a kidney punch, a little blood in your urine.
It isn’t over yet, it’s just begun.”
― Richard Siken, Crush

“Animal' is a category that we shove certain bodies into when we want to justify violence against them, which is why animal liberation should concern all who are minoritized. As long as animals are oppressed, as long as 'animal' means something degrading, we will never be set free.”
― Aph Ko, Aphro-ism: Essays on Pop Culture, Feminism, and Black Veganism from Two Sisters

“He continued to read every night, and the more he read the more clearly he understood what God required of him, and how he might live for God. And his heart grew lighter and lighter.”
― Leo Tolstoy, What Men Live by and Other Tales

“I have learned that men live not by selfishness, but by love.”
― Leo Tolstoy, What Men Live by and Other Tales