Salt Nayyirah Waheed Quotes

if the ocean can calm itself, so can you. we are both salt water mixed with air.

i don't pay attention to the world ending. it has ended for me many times and began again in the morning.

i bleed every month. but do not die. how am i not magic. – the lie

where you are. is not who you are. – circumstances

you broke the ocean in half to be here. only to meet nothing that wants you. – immigrant

in our own ways we all break. it is okay to hold your heart outside of your body for days. months. years. at a time. – heal

both. i want to stay. i want to leave. i am three oceans away from my soul. – lost

there are feelings. you haven’t felt yet. give them time. they are almost here. – fresh

i have always been the woman of my dreams.

cruel mothers are still mothers. they make us wars. they make us revolution. they teach us the truth. early. mothers are humans. who sometimes give birth to their pain. instead of children. – hate

i think one of the most pathological things i have ever seen is stabbing someone and then telling them that their pain and anger over being stabbed is making you sad. – white guilt

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.

there is no healthier drug than creativity.

listen to my poems but do not look for me look for you.

would you still want to travel to that country if you could not take a camera with you. – a question of appropriation

you ask your heart why it is always hurting. it says ‘this is the only thing you will allow me to say to you. the only feeling you are willing to feel.

can we speak in flowers. it will be easier for me to understand.

go. enjoy. leave. it was all about you, anyway.

if someone does not want me it is not the end of the world. but if i do not want me. the world is nothing but endings.

poetry. is the fire leaving my body.

you. not wanting me. was the beginning of me wanting myself. thank you. -the hurt

the worst thing that ever happened to the world was the white man coming across gun powder. –– the end of the world | the beginning of white supremacy

you are a story. do not become a word. one word. because you want to be loved. love does not ask you to be nothing for something.

sit in the ocean. it is one of the best medicines on the planet. – the water

does he not remember he is half woman.

why can we never talk about the blood. the blood of our ancestors. the blood of our history. the blood between our legs. – blood

i found flaws and they were beautiful. – ugly

i will tell you, my daughter of your worth not your beauty every day.

she asked ‘you are in love what does love look like’ to which i replied ‘like everything i’ve ever lost come back to me.

if the ocean can calm itself so can you. we are both salt water mixed with air. – meditation

a lie is simply a lie. it draws its strength from belief. stop believing in what hurts you. – power

if you show someone the sun in your bones and they reject you you must remember. they hurt themselves this very same way. – unable

you see your face. you see a flaw. how. if you are the only one who has this face. – the beauty construct

The thing you are most afraid to write Write that.

i wake to you everywhere. yet you are not here. – reach

my whole life i have ate my tongue. ate my tongue. ate my tongue. i am so full of my tongue you would think speaking is easy. but it is not. – for we who keep our lives in our mouths

it was only and ever love.

if we. are with child. and you believe that fatherhood begins when my body pours a baby into your hands. not before. you do not deserve this child. you are a coward. – you are a father the moment you enter me

the thing you are most afraid to write. write that. – advice to young writers

my heart is in my mind. i think this is why i am an artist.

sometimes the night wakes in the middle of me. and i can do nothing but become the moon.

i have lost millions and millions of words to fear. tell me that is not violence. - the deaths

leaving. doesn’t mean that you’ve left.

eyes that commit. that is what I am looking for.

what i never learned from my mother was that just because someone desires you does not mean they value you. desire is the kind of thing that eats you and leaves you starving.

even the small poems mean something. they are often whales in the bodies of tiny fish.

i want more ‘men’ with flowers falling from their skin. more water in their eyes. more tremble in their bodies. more women in their hearts than on their hands. more softness in their height. more honesty in their voice. more wonder. more humility in their feet. – less

the wounds have changed me. i am so soft with scars my skin breathes and beats stars.

i like myself. when i am myself.

if we wanted to. people of color could burn the world down. for what we have experienced. are experiencing. but we don’t. – how stunningly beautiful that our sacred respect for the earth. for life. is deeper than our rage

when you are struggling in your writing (art). it usually means you are hearing one thing. but writing (creating) another. – honest | risk

would you still want to travel to that country if you could not take a camera with you. -a question of appropriation

decolonization requires acknowledging. that your needs and desires should never come at the expense of another’s life energy. it is being honest that you have been spoiled by a machine that is not feeding you freedom but feeding you the milk of pain. – the release

make sure they have fallen in love with your spirit. first. your body. second. –

knowing your power is what creates humility. not know your power is what creates insecurity.

there is you and you. this is a relationship. this is the most important relationship.

i knew you. before i met you. i’ve known you my whole life. – nafsi

being in love with my people does not mean i hate others. how ridiculous is that. – self

if we must both be right. we will lose each other. – exile

i am your friend. a soul for your soul. a place for your life. home. know this. sun or water. here or away. we are a lighthouse. we leave. and we stay. – lighthouse

men give birth, too. to children. to longings. to dreams. that they must hide. their stomachs. their uteruses. their hungers. their softness. their cravings for touch. to be a man. is the thing that closes their light. and eats their eyes. – him

you. are your own standard of beauty. – mirror work

her love. was the only medicine. the only medicine. that ever worked. and this is why she left. she wanted yours to work. too. – healer

expect sadness like you expect rain. both cleanse you. – natural

i will tell you, my daughter of your worth not your beauty every day. (your beauty is a given. every being is born beautiful). knowing your worth can save your life. raising you on beauty alone you will be starved. you will be raw. you will be weak. an easy stomach. always in need of someone telling you how beautiful you are. – emotional nutrition

your soul stained my shoulders. my whole life smells like you. this will take time. undoing you from my blood.

there have been so many times i have seen a man wanting to weep but instead beat his heart until it was unconscious. – masculine

when i am afraid to speak is when i speak. that is when it is most important. – the freedom in fear

your skin smells like light. i think you are the moon.

we are houses eaten by rivers because we do not know their smell.

i lied. i told you i was not afraid to love you. then i walked away. and loved you. – i have spent my whole life alone. loving you. | when we choose fear

white people try to take blackness. pour it out rub it into their skin and wear us like they know what we about. but honey it’s only ever gon’ be a suntan. you ain’t neva gon’ be black. – tan | stealing from the sun

the hard season will split you through. do not worry. you will bleed water. do not worry. this is grief. your face will fall out and down your skin and there will be scorching. but do not worry. keep speaking the years from their hiding places. keep coughing up smoke from all the deaths you have died. keep the rage tender. because the soft season will come. it will come. loud. ready. gulping. both hands in your chest. up all night. up all of the nights. to drink all damage into love. – therapy

flower work is not easy. remaining soft in fire takes time.

healing begins the moment you want it to

she was a beautiful place to bare my legs.

she was flower salt in my heart, and she hurt beautifully.

you do not have to be a fire for every mountain blocking you. you could be a water and soft river your way to freedom too. - options

you. not wanting me. was the beginning of me wanting myself. thank you. – the hurt

if i write what you may feel but cannot say. it does not make me a poet. it makes me a bridge. and i am humbled and i am grateful to assist your heart in speaking. - grateful

stay is a sensitive word. we wear who stayed and who left in our skin forever

you are not a mistake. you are too many exquisite details to be a mistake.

i am such a sensitive summer thing.

you can not remain a war between what you want to say (who you really are). and what you should say (who you pretend to be). your mouth was not designed to eat itself. – split

never trust anyone who says they do not see color. this means to them you are invisible.

you will drown if you do not have boundaries. they are not optional. this structure counts on your inability to say no. mean no. they take no from our first breath. go back and return it to your mouth. your heart. your light. – swim | women of color

your heart is the softest place on earth. take care of it.

he was so beautiful because when he held her he was not concerned with ‘being a man.’ ‘being a man’ had nothing to do with this. these flowers pouring from his chest. – weightless

i am a brutally soft woman.

your soul stained my shoulders. my whole life smells like you. this will take time. undoing you from my blood

knowing your worth can save your life. raising you on beauty alone you will be starved. you will be raw. you will be weak. an easy stomach. always in need of someone telling you how beautiful you are. –

cry wild. you have probably never cried wild. but, you know what doors feel like. you have an intimacy with doors that is killing you -break

mothers are humans. who sometimes give birth to their pain. instead of children. –

illegitimate children is such a foreign concept to me. i was born from my mother and i am here. that is all the legitimacy i need. – the bastard construct

as a child there was either books or pain. i chose books. -how i became a writer

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 for love. you have only one. that makes a lot of sense

i don’t pay attention to the world ending. it has ended for me many times and began again in the morning.

to not be safe on the earth. simply because of the color of your skin. how does a being survive this. – trayvon martin

i am a black wave in a white sea. always seen and unseen. – the difference

what we hide and do not say turns into another mouth that only we know.

you see your face. you see a flaw. how. if you are the only one who has this face.” — the beauty construct

the hard season will split you through. do not worry. you will bleed water.

my mother was my first country. the first place i ever lived. –

if you deserve honey mine will flow from my arms to yours no effort, no asking. but, if there is none and you feel wind instead. know that my spirit already senses that when you smell sweetness you begin harvesting blades in your hands. - kindness is a form of intelligence

if someone does not want me it is not the end of the world but if i do not want me the world is nothing but endings.

where you are. is not who you are. —circumstances

i want to stay. i want to leave. i am three oceans away from my soul. – lost

as a woman i know the difference between appreciation and teeth. what really hurts is that as a girl i had to know the same thing.

i am a silk field of vulnerability.

fell apart many times. so. what does that say about me besides i live through wars.

a lie is simply a lie. it draws its strength from belief. stop believing in what hurts you. - power

weather is the earth’s emotions. she is obviously enraged. – sentient

can you be a daughter. if you have no mother language.” — african american iii

you see how your body is beginning to slow glow with stars. you are remembering. you are mine. you have never been anything else. 

if a man can only show vulnerability for what is between my legs. can only be a heart during sex. if an orgasm is the only way he can weep. what is his life but a cage.

can we speak in flowers. it will be easier for me to understand. – other language

trust your work.

i am the line. on both sides there are songs in my name. – bi

the most gorgeous thing on a human being. vulnerability.

i am your friend. a soul for your soul. a place for your life. home. know this. sun or water. here or away. we are a lighthouse. we leave. and we stay. –

expect sadness like you expect rain. both cleanse you.

the rain in this room is low and thick and undressing my heart through the air. – intimacy 

i want to see brown and black folks photographed by brown and black eyes. – eyes

when i am afraid to speak is when i speak. that is when it is most important. - the freedom in fear

if you deserve honey mine will flow from my arms to yours no effort, no asking. but, if there is none and you feel wind instead. know that my spirit already senses that when you smell sweetness you begin harvesting blades in your hands. – kindness is a form of intelligence

what i never learned from my mother was that just because someone desires you does not mean they value you. desire is the kind of thing that eats you and leaves you starving. – the color of low self esteem

you must put healing on the list. the grocery list. the to do list. the night list. because you are teaching your baby the very same chemistry that took your eyes and heart when you were four.

go. enjoy. leave. it was all about you, anyway. – tourist

i knew you. before i met you. i’ve known you my whole life.

there are feelings. you haven’t felt yet. give them time. they are almost here. –

for me there is no other. because there is no default. everyone is a variation of life. – the human being | the human gender | the human sex

Poetry is evidence that the heart thinks and the mind feels.

stay soft. it looks beautiful on you.

i will tell you, my daughter of your worth not your beauty every day. (your beauty is a given. every being is born beautiful). knowing your worth can save your life. raising you on beauty alone you will be starved. you will be raw. you will be weak. an easy stomach. always in need of someone telling you how beautiful you are. –

when you allow that man. to walk through your children. plant his feet. in their veins. hold their voices. necks. bodies. inside his violence. you are no longer a mother. when you give him the key to that door. because you need to be loved by someone. you have seasoned them for the wolf. burned their childhood into a fantasy. it’s going to take a third of their lives. all the courage. from their cells to their hair. to learn the alchemetic formula that turns that kind of betrayal. a demothering. soft. liveable. – before you get that key made

The thing you are most afraid to write. Write that.

i have lost millions and millions of words to fear. tell me that is not violence

expect sadness like you expect rain. both cleanse you. –natural

do not ever be afraid to tell me who you are. i am going to find out eventually. –blunt

if the ocean can calm itself so can you. we are both salt water mixed with air.

i am a woman and a poem. – visceral

would you still want to travel to that country if you could not take a camera with you. - a question of appropriation

a lie is simply a lie. it draws its strength from belief. stop believing in what hurts you. –

i am so full of my tongue you would think speaking is easy. but it is not.

i am a dream still dreaming.

africa does not need your tears. or your prayers. or your money. or your t-shirts. or your telethons. or your hands ever so lovingly placed on her buttocks. your mouth at her breasts. your fists in her eyes. she wants you to stop pissing in her face and calling it water.

decolonization requires acknowledging. that your needs and desires should never come at the expense of another’s life energy. it is being honest that you have been spoiled by a machine that is not feeding you freedom but feeding you the milk of pain.

you ask to touch my hair. or worse touch it without asking. this is not innocence. this is not ignorance. this is not curiosity. this is the very racist and subhuman belief that you have a right to me. – i will break your hand | do not ever touch me |every time you touch me. my ancestors place a curse on you

my mother was my first country the first place i ever lived

why can we never talk about the blood. the blood of our ancestors. the blood of our history. the blood between our legs. –

be insecure in peace. allow yourself lowness. know that it is only a country on the way to who you are. – traveling

you broke the ocean in half to be here. only to meet nothing that wants you. –immigrant

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.

soon the moon will come from my lips and you will not remember your name. – oshún

no’ might make them angry. but it will make you free. –

if i write what you may feel but cannot say. it does not make me a poet. it makes me a bridge. and i am humbled and i am grateful to assist your heart in speaking. – grateful

can we speak in flowers. it will be easier for me to understand.

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

water clings to my wrists. it has been my fragrance since birth.

unharm someone by telling the truth you could not face when you struck instead of tended. – put the fire out (unburn)

cry wild. you have probably never cried wild. but, you know what doors feel like. you have an intimacy with doors that is killing you. – break

i cannot see you anymore. your smile. your legs. your heat. is lonely. the honey, grandmother said, is for your blood. it is to bring you back.

length of our love. she was your eyes the day i met you. remember, you and i.

if you show someone the sun in your bones and they reject you you must remember. they hurt themselves this very same way. –

you see your face. you see a flaw. how. if you are the only one who has this face. –

never trust anyone who says they do not see color. this means to them you are invisible. – is

it is being honest about my pain that makes me invincible. – yield

stay is a sensitive word. we wear who stayed and who left in our skin forever. – sojourn

we are never our own. we must change this fact. - acceptance

where you are. is not who you are. –circumstances

i am a black wave in a white sea. always seen and unseen.

we lay in our country. love makes us a homeland. – bed

my heart is in my mind. i think this is why i am an artist

they take no from our first breath. go back and return it to your mouth. your heart. your light.

there have been so many times i have seen a man wanting to weep but instead beat his heart until it was unconscious. -masculine

you are a dream undreamt.

when you are struggling in your writing (art) it usually means you are hearing one thing. but writing (creating) another. - honest | risk

knowing your power is what creates humility. not knowing your power is what creates insecurity. - ego

getting yourself together. what about undoing yourself. – the fix

if i have never seen you cry. if you do not cry. if you do not value or respect the needs of your water. you and i can not form. if you can not allow your own being to wash over you. how will mine ever make it past your skin. –– available

black women breathe flowers, too. just because we are taught to grow them in the lining of our quiet (our grandmothers secret) does nor mean we do not swelter with wild tenderness. we soft swim. we petal. we scent limbs. love. we just have been too long a garden for sharp and deadly teeth. so we have grown ourselfves into greenhouses.

i want more ‘men’ with flowers falling from their skin. more water in their eyes. more tremble in their bodies. more women in their hearts than on their hands. more softness in their height. more honesty in their voice. more wonder. more humility in their feet. –– less

i am simply the poet. the poem is the one that can change your life. – medium

being in love with my people does not mean i hate others. how ridiculous is that. –

i do not expect my child’s respect. just because i have given birth to their life. does not mean they owe me. anything. what

you do not have to be a fire for every mountain blocking you. you could be water and soft river your way to freedom too. options

i touched her in the middle of her heart. i never saw her again. –– scar

there is a phantom tongue in my mouth. a tongue beneath my tongue. will i ever remember what i sound like. will i ever come home.

leaving. doesn't mean that you've left. - linger

you travel to lush looted countries. parts of earth laying on their sides. barely breathing. hot with rust, infection, and tourist anemia. you and your camera arrive. start tearing at bodies with your lust. it’s harmless. appreciating culture. sharing. honoring clothing. the way certain skin exists.

african american women are easy. inferior. africans are dirty. jungle people. african americans are lazy. indolent. african people are too black. ugly. african americans think they are better than us. africans think they are better us. –– listen to the sound of us | we are breaking our mothers heart | the ancestors weep at how much we look like the hate that came to eat us

i will crawl for white beauty. eat my arms. barter my legs (make my thighs into altars of grief). for skin that does not drink night. hair that is not angry. body that is not soil. i place curses on my flesh call them diets. tell my ancestors they are ugly. howl at my nose until it bleeds. run my heart across my teeth, repeatedly. i am dying. to be beautiful. but beautiful. is something. i will never be. – by the time we are seven

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 for love. you have only one. that makes a lot of sense.

do not ever be afraid to tell me who you are. i am going to find out eventually. –– blunt

you are a story. do not become a word. one word. because you want to be loved. love does not ask you to be nothing for something. –– name

i do not want to be liked. i want to be myself. –– fiction

you can not remain a war between what you want to say (who you really are) and what you should say (who you pretend to be) you mouth was not designed to eat itself. –– split

Cruel mothers are still mothers. They make us wars. they make us revolution. They teach us the truth. early. Mothers are humans who sometimes give birth to their pain. Instead of children

have you ever heard a black woman weep over her skinmurdered child. it is the splitting of atoms. it is billions of voices screaming their children’s names through her death wail. –– trayvon martin ii

white people are not chinese because they are born/live in china white people are not indian. because they are born/live in india. white people are not african. because they are born/live on a continent they murdered their way into. - there is no such things as white african | colonial blood myths | a revisionist history