Home > Author > Ijeoma Umebinyuo
21 " The problem wasyou kept waiting for anotherto call you powerful.You naively believed men like himwere capable of lovingwomen who makecrowns for thorns.The problem wasYou loved him so shamelessly,even his lies became holy. "
― Ijeoma Umebinyuo , Questions for Ada
22 " there are ways to let the world kill you.first, lose your tongue in the mouth of alover.second, do not remember your softness. "
23 " You teach your daughtershow to rub poison on their skinrememberto teach your sonshow not to be serpents. "
24 " Forgive me father,but sometimes my Godis a womansitting on the kitchen floorher hands holding her legsscreaming for helpwithout making a sound.Forgive me fatherbut sometimes my Godis a womancalling me on the phonebegging me to call her"beautiful"because her lover forcedugliness into her soul.Forgive me fatherbut sometimes my Godis a womancrying in the showerbegging for another Godto lift her burden. "
25 " i want to write aboutwomen who pray for mein a language so beautifulenglish will bow. "
26 " Nobody warned you that the women whose feet you cut from running would give birth to daughters with wings. "
27 " I tell you sometimes the moon is too weak to be full. "
28 " forcing manhoodon boys with skinstill made ofsilk and mother's loveis cruel "
29 " Mother, I have pasts inside me I did not bury properly. Some nights, your daughter tears herself apart yet heals in the morning. "
30 " The womancarried herselflike Godworshipped her body.Even the devilwill pray for her forgivenessat the holy sight of her. "
31 " I curated our love into poemsand all the pains became lessall the anger left, eventuallybut, there is no denyinghere on the tip of my soulwith scars still healing,that once I loved a man. "
32 " Beneath it allI knowyou are made of soft windand calm flowing waterbuton days whenyou become strong windand crashing wavesberest assuredyou did notbecome less of youdo not become the womanapologizing for dayswhen she has thornsfrom the harshnessof the world. "
33 " this body has carried herself into days so bitter all gods wept. Yet, I am still here and I will always be here. "
34 " you desecrated the shrines of our fathersyou pushed our tongue, stole our cultureparaded your wickedness as my savioryou refused the right to let me own my narrativeyou butchered our namesyou brought war on our landyou call my people "savages"you stole our historiesand wear them proudly in your museumsyou wash away our achievements you carry it as yoursyou "discovered" what was already mineyou plant puppets, assassinating our leadersyou desecrated the shrines of my motherswhen we worshipped nature, you laughed at usnow, you want to carry our ways, learn from uswe refuse to write softness into our storiesfor you to feel comfortablewe refuse to let anyone but us own our narrativewe refuse to believe your lies againyou will not spit in the face of our fathersand think his children will now sit quietly. "
35 " You apologize forhow you carry your mother's lonelinessquietlybetween your teeth.You apologize for how you carry your father's sinsinside your blood.You forgothow to carry yourselfaway for the historiesthat threatens to break youopen, leaving you with griefand unbearable weight of emptiness.Tell me, apart from the sadnessthick as smogliving inside your chesttell me the last timeyou held your faceand saw lovestaring back at you.How does destroying yourself prove your worth to others? "
36 " twice broken, three times more powerful. "
37 " my love has been known to perform miracles. "
38 " I am too full of life to be half-loved. "
39 " Daughters do not have to inherit the silence of their mothers. "
― Ijeoma Umebinyuo
40 " Like you, I am tired of waking up to news of death. "