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1 " you will rise.and are you less of a woman for this? nowhat is woman?woman is this—enduring.listen girl, you will survive this–you will.but what fool said you had to do it silently?here is a tip—scream "
― Salma Deera , Letters From Medea
2 " listen girl,’ Medea says, ‘you arenot the first person in the world tosuffer from a broken heart.but i will treat you like you are.listen girl. he is not calling out your name.your name to him is nothing.it might have been before.once, your name might have beenthe only word he knew when hewas blind sad or bursting with sun.those days are over.your name can only exist in your own mouth now.say it over and over. say it until it doesn’t soundlike a name, but just a sound. the promises he made you are just sounds now too. remember that.your hands are what will hold you together now.and you want to be mad? be mad.here is a plate. throw it through his window,listen to the crack. the shatter. laugh into the night.call yourself the sun. see, you will rise.and are you less of a woman for this? nowhat is woman?woman is this–enduring.listen girl, you will get over this– you will.but what fool said you had to do it silently?here is a tip – scream "
3 " in your dream, you are jealous of tragedies.and the truth is, we all want our own tragedy, because life is pale without it.we want the teeth, the screaming.the survivalthat comes with it. "
4 " the centre of every poem is this:The centre of every poem is this:I have loved you. I have had to deal with that.— Salma Deera, Letters from Medea (2015) "
5 " Take back your rib, Eve cries.I didn't want it. I never did. It is weighing me down. "
6 " i want to discover myself.i want to destroy myself.i want to be a secret that nobody but i can ruin. "
7 " she says to me:'if you want to hurt a man, you don't killthe man. you kill what he loves.'i nod.and then i ask her: 'so how do you hurt a woman?'she answers:'my child, a woman is hurting from the moment of birth. "
8 " but tell me, who was it that made you dangerous?it was no one.it was me.it was everyone. "
9 " it's like this:say there's a whole room of people and you're somewhere in the middle of them all.i walk in and i see you, but you don't suddenly become the only person in the room. god no. you become the room. you are the room. "
10 " when i love, it happens almost all at once.it is inconsiderate, unrefined -a child screeching in a supermarketit's a thunderclap.it is a small village blackout.it is aphrodite rising from the sea foam, fully formed. "
11 " you are ares' lost sister.goddess of sedated battles and lost girls.always full of other people and never yourself. "
12 " but i want to ask her what is wrong with being dark and heavywith your feet firmly on soil? "
13 " my curse is that i fall in love withmen who believe in gods but not in me. "
14 " in astronomy class, the muse urania angrily watches a panel of men talk about the wonders of the stars as though they created them. "
15 " some boys will give you the sun so you can bloom.but other boys will give you the sunto watch you melt. "
16 " Call me by a man’s name instead of a woman’s, and suddenly every horrific thing I’ve done makes me a hero. "
17 " love is just a synonym for absinthe.absinthe is a synonym for 'i don'tknow what i'm doing anymore. "
18 " i am a human body turned inside out.my soft skin is saved for me alone. "
19 " you want to know the logic behind my actions?here is one explanation:call me by a man’s name instead of a woman’s,and suddenly every horrific thing i’ve donemakes me a hero. "
20 " you are suitable for my skin type-my life typemy heart type. "