11

Let everyone watch out,

for with such art

I play at living and dying. 

I am the bird

that gets the starlings

to feed my little ones. 

~Marcabru

The House on Mango Street

I put it down on paper and then the ghost does not ache so much. I write it down and Mango says goodbye sometimes. She does not hold me with both arms. She sets me free. 

One day I will pack my bags of books and paper. One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong for her to keep me here forever. One day I will go away.

~Sandra Cisneros 

The House on Mango Street

My mother says when I get older my dusty hair will settle and my blouse will learn to stay clean, but I have decided not to grow up tame like the others who lay their necks on the threshold waiting for the ball and chain. 

I have begun my own quiet war. Simple. Sure. I am one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate. 

~Sandra Cisneros 

The House on Mango Street

She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. 

~Sandra Cisneros

Instructions to the Double

If anyone calls you a witch,

burn for him; if anyone calls you

less or more than you are

let him burn for you. 

~Tess Gallagher

The Story of Layla and Majnun

Man is as lightening, born to die, not to seek permanence in the house of suffering...The echo shouts your secret from the mountain-tops, revealing only what you confided yourself. 

~Nizami 

The Story of Layla and Majnun

Believe me, you can run all your life without arriving anywhere. 

~Nizami (said by the character Sayyid)

The Story of Layla and Majnun

What a giant raven this night was. 

~Nizami

Pleasure & Understanding

All is suffering is a bad modernist translation. 

What the Buddha really said is: It's all a mixed bag. Shit 

is complicated. Everything's fucked up. Everything's gorgeous. Even 

Death contains pleasure--six feet below understanding. 

~Robin Coste Lewis

Art & Craft

During Arts and Crafts, when Miss Larson allowed

the scissors out, I'd sneak a pair, then cut

my hair to stop me from growing too long. 

~Robin Coste Lewis