Home > Author > Saeed Jones
1 " PRETENDING TO DROWNThe only regret is that I waitedlonger than a breathto scatter the sun's reflectionwith my body.New stars burst upon the waterwhen you pulled me in.On the shore, our clothesbegged us to be good boys again.Every stick our feet toucheda snapping turtle, every shadowa water moccasin.Excuses to swim closer to one another.I sank into the depths to see youas the lake saw you: cut in halfby the surface, taut legs kicking,the rest of you sky.Suddenly still, a clear viewof what you knew I wantedto see.When I resurfaced, slick grin,knowing glance; you pushed meback under.I pretended to drown,then swallowed you whole. "
― Saeed Jones , Prelude to Bruise
2 " We’re not crazy. We’re just not in the dark anymore. And my goodness, we can see you so clearly now. "
― Saeed Jones
3 " A joke I used to repeat in those days was: Why be happy when you can be interesting? I knew how to be interesting. There was power in being a spectacle, even a miserable spectacle. The punch and the line. Interesting: sentences like serrated blades, laughter like machine-gun rounds, a drink in one hand, a borrowed cigarette in the other. If you could draw enough glances, any room could orbit around you. "
― Saeed Jones , How We Fight For Our Lives
4 " People don’t just happen, We sacrifice former versions of ourselves. We sacrifice the people who dared to raise us. The ‘I’ it seems doesn’t exist until we are able to say, ‘I am no longer yours. "
5 " If a gurl understands your bullshit, stcks through your mistakes, smiles even when you've done nothing for, It'z obvious she's a keeper but itz also obvious dont deserve her either "
6 " People don’t just happen. We sacrifice former versions of ourselves. We sacrifice the people who dared to raise us. The “I” it seems doesn’t exist until we are able to say, “I am no longer yours.” My grandmother and I, without knowing it, were faithfully following a script that had already been written for us. A woman raises a boy into a man, loving him so intensely that her commitment finally repulses him. "
7 " I made myself a promise: Even if it meant becoming a stranger to my loved ones, even if it meant keeping secrets, I would have a life of my own. "
8 " Just as some cultures have a hundred words for 'snow,' there should be a hundred words in our language for all the ways a black boy can lie awake at night. "
9 " People don’t just happen. We sacrifice former versions of ourselves. We sacrifice the people who dared to raise us. The “I” it seems doesn’t exist until we are able to say, “I am no longer yours. "
10 " Tears don't always just fall; sometimes they rip through you, like storm-painted gusts instead of mere raindrops. "
11 " The sons of single mothers inevitably encounter well-meaning family members who like to remind us of our role as "the man of the house." The statement usually made me wince, the way it implicitly merged the roles of son, father, and husband; the way it erased the grown woman to whom the house actually belonged. "
12 " Maybe, a decade older than I was, he knew what I would eventually learn: it’s possible for two men to become addicted to the damage they do to each other. "
13 " Being black can get you killed. Being gay can get you killed. Being a black gay boy is a death wish. And one day, if you’re lucky, your life and death will become some artist’s new “project. "
14 " It seemed as if my life was waiting for me outside that room, like a polite guest I'd left behind at the table. It was rude to keep him waiting. It helped to think of my life as someone separate from me, a person who didn't deserve to be abandoned. "
15 " The sweetness we deny ourselves because the world is wailing. "
16 " That night was the first time in my life I felt like the words “gay” and “alone” weren’t synonyms for each other. "
17 " America was going to hate me for being black and gay, then I might as well make a weapon out of myself. "
18 " Reach high for the stars that hidden in your soul. Dream precedes the goal "
19 " Some songs take women places men cannot follow. "
20 " Everyone has a lie we’re quietly waiting to believe. "
