You want to belong, you want to be here. In interactions with others you're constantly waiting to see that they recognize that… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
I want to believe that in any relational moment a person understands that the other person in front of them is just… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
Poetry is probably the last gift economy. Part of the negotiation is to understand that you're going to do something you really… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
Whereas if you were writing an op-ed piece or an essay, somebody would be asking, "What's your point?" With poetry you can… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
When you achieve it fully, you create something that's transparent - that people can move into and through their own experiences. As… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
In the future, we've forgotten it. It's disappointing to find out that the past is the present is the future. Nobody wants… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
My tendency is to want to say to the person, "Do you understand why I feel this way?" I usually do say… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
Intimacy is important in my work because I don't understand existence without intimacy. All of us are dependent on other people -… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
I don't think people want to look at problems. They want a continuous narrative, an optimistic narrative. A narrative that says there's… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
I don't know about forgiving, but it's an "I'm still here." And it's not just because I have nowhere else to go. It's because… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
So you're just moving along and suddenly you get this moment that breaks your ability to continue, and yet you continue. I wanted those… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
“because white men can't police their imagination black people are dying” — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
Whereas if you were writing an op-ed piece or an essay, somebody would be asking, "What's your point?" With poetry you can stay in… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
Because white men can’t police their imaginations, black men are dying. — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
I asked a lot of friends and people I'd meet, "Can you tell me a story of a micro-aggression that happened to you in… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
“The past is a life sentence, a blunt instrument aimed at tomorrow.” — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
The subject who speaks is situated in relation to the other. This privilege of the other ceases to be incomprehensible once we admit that… — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
Where is the safest place when that place / must be someplace other than in the body? — Claudia Rankine Copy Share Image
