“To write poetry, like sincere poetry, it is like performing heart surgery on yourself without anesthesia. In public. You are peeling back layers. You are dissecting yourself...You do not know what they're going to do when you reach into yourself and rip out your organs to be displayed.”— Amir Sulaiman, youtube.com
“if the ocean can calm itself so can you. we are both salt water mixed with air.”— Nayyirah Waheed, amazon.com
“I think representation is exceedingly important. I think women of colour in the writing world are an absolute need.”— Nikita Gill, shopcatalog.com
“I think little girls of colour need as much representation as they can get, and the more women of colour that exist not just in literature but in the arts world in general, the more chance they have of being represented authentically. I use my voice to give words to the silent. I shout because I HAD…”— Nikita Gill, shopcatalog.com
“The biggest gift for any writer in the world, is to be read, and for the words they have written to help and move people. To be able to be part of a thing so much greater than myself is humbling and I am nothing but grateful that so many wonderful people have read and found healing in my words.”— Nikita Gill, shopcatalog.com
“You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise.”— Maya Angelou, amazon.com
“Sometimes the problem is that invisible girls are too visible, too powerful, too fierce. The world likes to box them in to contain them.”— Shahida Arabi, thoughtcatalog.com
“I know you forget to examine the reflection of your own privilege Or you may be afraid of the truth But I'm not afraid to be honest I'm not afraid to be nasty Yeah I'm nasty like the struggle of women still beating equality into the world, because our rights have been beaten out of us for too long.…”— Nina Donovan, youtube.com
“my english is broken. on purpose. you have to try harder to understand me. breaking this language you so love is my pleasure. in your arrogance you presume that i want your skinny language. that my mouth is building a room for it in the back of my throat. it is not. --i have seven different words fo…”— Nayyirah Waheed, amazon.com
“'no' might make them angry, but it will make you free. - if no one has ever told you, your freedom is more important than their anger”— Nayyirah Waheed, amazon.com
“remember. you were a writer before you ever put word to paper. just because you were not writing externally. does not mean you were not writing internally.”— Nayyirah Waheed, amazon.com
“i am relieved. when i see the feminine presence in a man's eyes. it means he is a peace i do not have to bring to him.”— Nayyirah Waheed, amazon.com
“Only white people can imagine a past that was better than now. Only white people have nostalgia. "You grew up rich," they say. "Your daddy is a doctor." They want me to possess their whiteness, too.”— Megan Fernandez, thecommononline.org