lazygoddess:

“They say we were meant to lose something in order to find that which is truer. And that which we find may well be that which we have lost but which is found on a different day, when we have changed. And that which we have lost and found differently may well now be the magic stone with which we can, in greater readiness, continue our unending journey.”

~ Ben Okri, Starbook

warsanshire:

-

the year of letting go, of understanding loss. grace. of the word ‘no’ and also being able to say ‘you are not kind’. the year of humanity/humility. when the whole world couldn’t get out of bed. everyone i’ve met this year, says the same thing ‘you are so easy to be around, how do you do that?’. the year i broke open and dug out all the rot with own hands. the year i learnt small talk. and how to smile at strangers. the year i understood that i am my best when i reach out and ask ‘do you want to be my friend?’. the year of sugar, everywhere. softness. sweetness. honey honey. the year of being alone, and learning how much i like it. the year of hugging people i don’t know, because i want to know them. the year i made peace and love, right here.

“…we assume a musical solo is a personal statement/ we
think the poet is speakin for the world. there’s
something wrong there, a writer’s first commitment is
to the piece, itself. how the words fall & leap/ or if
they dawdle & sit down fannin themselves. writers are
dealin with language/ not politics. that comes later. so
much later. to think abt the politics of a poem/ before
we think abt the poem/ is to put what is correct before
the moment. if the moment waz not correct/ it still
waz. we dont castigate ornette coleman of ‘lonely
woman’/ nor do we chastise the del-vikings for singing
abt love all the time. we accept what they gave us/ cuz
that’s what they had & it waz good. when i take my
voice into a poem or a story/ I am trying desperately 
to give you that. i am not trying to give you a history
of my family/ the struggle of black people all over the
world or the fight goin on upstairs tween susie & matt.
i am givin you a moment/ like something that isnt
coming back/ something particularly itself/ like an
alto solo in decemeber in nashville in 1937.

 as we demand to be heard/ we want you to hear us. we
come to you the way leroi jenkins comes or cecil taylor/
or b. b. king.  we come to you alone/ in the theater/ in
the story/ & the poem. like with billie holiday or betty
carter/ we shd give you a moment that cannot be
re-created/ a specificity that cannot be confused. our
language shd let you know who’s talkin, what we’re
talkin abt & how we cant stop sayin this to you. some
urgency accompanies the text. something important
is going on. we are speakin. reachin for yr person/ we
cannot hold it/ we don’t wanna sell it/ we give you
ourselves/ if you listen.”

- ntozake shange
excerpt from “takin a solo/ a poetic possibility/ a poetic imperative”
found in “nappy edges“ 
pp. 11- 12