Mercy

“When reading her stories in translation it’s like trying to see her from a great distance. Or through a thick pane of glass. I am standing outside, peering into rooms where her ghost has been.”
― Nina Mingya Powles, Magnolia, 木蘭

“Le bruit est partout, à toutes les heures du jour et de la nuit, presque autonome par rapport aux personnes qui sont censées le produire, le bruit pénètre les corps par le conduit auditif et se répercute dans chaque parcelle de l'organisme, le bruit harcèle le silence des organes.”
― Édouard Louis, Histoire de la violence

“My phone is vibrating, telling me: You have a new memory. Here is a stream of pictures collected into an album, all taken somewhere far away. Home is not a place but a string of colours threaded together and knotted at one end.”
― Nina Mingya Powles, Magnolia, 木蘭

“Drift,” she mouths softly in English, “what is drift?” My mother translates into her language, not one of mine. I try to make myself remember by writing 婆 over and over on squares of paper covering the walls so I am surrounded by the women and the water radicals they hold close. The tips of waves touch me in my sleep.”
― Nina Mingya Powles, Magnolia, 木蘭