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101 " How could I have known then, there are no rules, no expectations, no rising to the occasion. When you learn news like this, there is only falling. "
― Elizabeth Acevedo , Clap When You Land
102 " Mami hates the concept of sleepovers,says our house has enough beds& what kind of sheets does someone else havethat I cannot sleep in my own? "
103 " Tía has never lied to me. From the beginning, any questions I asked she answered. Whether it was about sex, or boys, healing or the Saints. I keep rocking next to her. Sometimes words need time to form; the minutes like slabs building a ramp out the mouth. "
104 " Playing chess taught me a queen is both: deadly & graceful, poised & ruthless. Quite & cunning. A queen offers her hand to be kissed, & can form it into a fist while smiling the whole damn time. "
105 " when you touch down on this soil, you must clap when you land. "
106 " But the best thing about our house~is that it's a three-minute walk from the beach.Which isn't always lucky when the water rises,but it has saved my life on the many days when I need a reminder the world is biggerthan the one I know, & its currents are always moving;when I need a reminderthere is a life for me beyond the water& that one day I will not be left behind. "
107 " But I’ll never know. What I would have said. "
108 " I peel my denim shorts off, wade in, slicing through as if by doing this I could cut to strips my breaking heart. "
109 " I wanted to speak to the most protective man in my life "
110 " It’s the last day of school, I walk through the school hallways. "
111 " All I know is I am most sureof my place in the worldwith the water combing my kinks,the cold bitting into my skin, & my armscreating an arc over my head as I barrel through,& battle too these elements. "
112 " but knows she can't tell me. Knowsmy shoulders are too narrowto bear that news just yet. "
113 " & even if I don’t think of him as solely mine, I know he thinks of me as his. "
114 " Playing chess taught me a queen is bothdeadly & graceful, poised &ruthlessQuiet & cunning. A queenoffers her hand to be kissed,& can form it into a fistwhile smiling the whole damn timeBut what happens when tose principlesonly apply in a game? & in the real worldi am not treated as a lady or a queen,as a defender or opponentbut as a girl so many want to strike off the board. "
115 " Dreams are like the pieces of fluff that get caught in your hair;they stand out for a moment, but eventually you wash themaway, or long fingers reach in & pluck them out& you appear as what everyone expects. "
116 " What are arms in the water if not wings? "
117 " Does anyone ever want to leave their home? The fresh fruit that drops from their backyard? The neighbors who wiped their snot? Does anyone ever want to believe they won’t come back? To the dog that sniffs their heel, to the bed that holds the echo of their body? "
118 " Does anyone ever want to leave the place they love? "
119 " it's once you lift a pawn off the board,you have to move it forward. It cannot return where it was. "
120 " Tío Jorge knows how to listen.Even if all he hears is silence. "