Mama says it's okay to be on the quiet sideโif quiet means you're listening, watching, taking it all in.
Jacqueline WoodsonWhen you think of how a child experiences a series of events, it feels, for so long, like she's looking at everything from behind this glass and it's obscured.
Jacqueline WoodsonMaybe this was our last summer as best friends. I feel like something's going to change now and I'm not going to be able to change it back. โMargaret
Jacqueline WoodsonWe do inherently know that poetry is about the way we speak. It's about where we pause, where we drop our words in the middle of a sentence. It's about the rhythm and the cadence of the way we speak. It's about putting that down at the end of the day.
Jacqueline WoodsonA long time ago, Anne used to talk about energy - how that was all that love was - ions connecting across synapses of time and air. Don't rationalize, she'd say. None of it will ever make sense. I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes, not wanting to cry. Anne was right. None of it made any sense.
Jacqueline Woodson