our dreams draw blood from old sores.

Right now being born a girl is to be born threatened.

I'm a firm believer that language and how we use language determines how we act, and how we act then determines our lives and other people's lives.

i usedta live in the world really be in the world free & sweet talkin good mornin & thank-you & nice day uh huh i cant now i cant be nice to nobody nice is such a rip-off regular beauty & a smile in the street is just a set-up

I write for young girls of color, for girls who don’t even exist yet, so that there is something there for them when they arrive. I can only change how they live, not how they think.

I've never thought of leaving the South, never.

in our ordinaryness we are most bizarre.