Home > Author > Lemn Sissay
1 " I do... to this day, think that success is being able to look in the mirror and know that I'm alright on that day. I don't believe I've made it–I believe that I'm making it. I believe that I've found my past so that I can live in the present, it's the most important thing to me. The books and the plays and the touring and the gigs and the speeches and the cash...it all pales into insignificance when compared with knowing that I didn't do anything wrong, and I'm going to be okay now. "
― Lemn Sissay
2 " Some people on bus seats shake at the shoulders,Stoned Elvises trying to dance after the gig.Some walk into the rain and look like they’re smiling,Running mascara writes sad bitter letters on their faces.Some drive their cars into lay-bys or park edgesAnd cradle the steering-wheel looking like headless drivers.Some sink their open mouths into feather pillowsAnd tremble on the bed like beached dolphins.Some people are bent as question marks when they weepAnd some are straight as exclamation marks.Some are soaking in emotional dew when they wake,Salt street maps etched into their faces.Some find rooms and fall to the floor as if praying to Allah. NoiselessFaces contorted in that silent scream that seems like laughter.Why is there not a tissue-giver? A man who looks for tears,Who makes the finest silk tissues and offers them for free?It seems to me that around each corner, beneath each stone,Are humans quietly looking for a place to cry on their own. "
― Lemn Sissay , Gold from the Stone: New and Selected Poems (Canons)
3 " You remind meDefine me Incline me.If you diedI'd. "
4 " I think I'll paint roadson my front room wallsto convince myselfthat I'm going places "
5 " Food from the platter / Water from the rain / The subject and the matter / I'm going home again / Can't sell a leaf to a tree / Nor the wind to the atmosphere / I know where I am meant to be / And I can't be satisfied here "
― Lemn Sissay , Rebel Without Applause
6 " Memories in care are slippery because there’s no one to recall them with as the years pass. In a few months I would be in a different home with a different set of people who had no idea of this moment. How could it matter if no one recalls it? Given that staff don’t take photographs it was impossible to take something away as a memory. This is how you become invisible. It isn’t the lack of photographs that erodes the memory. It is the underlying unkindnesses, which make you feel as though you don’t matter enough. This is how to quietly deplete the sense of self-worth deep inside a child’s psyche. This is how a child becomes hidden in plain sight. Family is just a set of memories disputed, resolved or recalled between one group of people over a lifetime, isn’t it? And if there is no one to care enough to dispute, resolve or recall the memory, then did it happen? "
― Lemn Sissay , My Name Is Why
7 " Secrets are the stonesThat sink the boatTake them out, look at themThrow them out and float "
8 " Look what was sown by the stars At night across the fields I am not defined by scars But by the incredible ability to heal "
9 " Hurt people hurt people. "
10 " A fourteen-year-old boy should never have to ask the questions Who is my mother? and Who are my family? These were not easy questions to formulate in the mind or the mouth because the question comes with others . . . What did I do to deserve this? "
11 " Memories in care are slippery because there's no one to recall them with as the years pass. In a few months, I would be in a different home with a different set of people who had no idea of this moment. How could it matter if no one recalls it? Given that staff don't take photographs it was impossible to take something away as a memory. This is how you become invisible. It isn't the lack of photographs that erodes the memory. It is the underlying unkindnesses, which make you feel as though you don't matter enough. This is how to quietly deplete the sense of self-worth deep inside a child's psyche. This is how a child becomes hidden in plain sight. Family is just a set of memories disputed, resolved, or recalled between one group of people over a lifetime, isn't it? And if there is no one to care enough to dispute, resolve or recall the memory, then did it happen? "
12 " A foster child will expose the cracks in the familial veneer. Insomuch as the foster child is a cipher to the dysfunction of a family and also a seer. But the responsibility is too great for a child and so he finds himself manipulated and blamed for what he exposes by the simple virtue of innocence. The wrath this innocence incurs is deep and dark. "
13 " If they kept their hands by their sides they hoped that I would realise that I was hugging them but they were not hugging me. "
14 " My name is Lemn Sissay. My name is Lemn Sissay. My name is Lemn Sissay. My name is Lemn Sissay. My name is Lemn Sissay. My name is Lemn Sissay. My name is Lemn Sissay. My name is Lemn Sissay. My name is Lemn Sissay. My name is Lemn Sissay. "
15 " I am not defined by darkness Confided the night Each dawn I am reminded I am defined by light "
16 " Bitterness rots the vessel that carries it. "
