“Will I ever be done, transformed in the past tense, or will I always be transforming, better and better until I die?” — Carmen Maria Machado Change Copy Share Image
“She’s like dough, how the give of it beneath kneading hands disguises its sturdiness, its potential.” — Carmen Maria Machado Like Dough Copy Share Image
“A feeling settles over me—a one-beer-deep feeling, a no-more-skittering-feet-after-the-trap-snaps feeling.” — Carmen Maria Machado Deep feeling Copy Share Image
“That night, I wash myself. The silky suds between my legs are the color and scent of rust, but I am newer… — Carmen Maria Machado Feminism Copy Share Image
“And there was nothing in my eyes. Or even worse -- nothingness. Not the presence of a thing but the presence of… — Carmen Maria Machado Copy Share Image
“Many people live and die without ever confronting themselves in the darkness.” — Carmen Maria Machado Darkness Copy Share Image
“You never live with a woman, you live inside of her, I overheard my father say to my brother once, and it… — Carmen Maria Machado Overheard Copy Share Image
“What I say: “Why did you leave her with me?” What I want to say: “This almost broke me, but it didn’t.… — Carmen Maria Machado End of time Copy Share Image
“She was a stranger because something essential was shielded, released in tiny bursts until it became a flood---a flood of what I… — Carmen Maria Machado Disillusionment Copy Share Image
“When you think about it, stories have this way of running together like raindrops in a pond. Each is borne from the… — Carmen Maria Machado Running together Copy Share Image
“(If you read this story out loud, please use the following voices: ME: as a child, high-pitched, forgettable; as a woman, the… — Carmen Maria Machado Children Copy Share Image
“I once heard a story about a girl who requested something so vile from her paramour that he told her family and… — Carmen Maria Machado Family Copy Share Image
“Mara, remember how you kicked sand into that neighbor child’s eyes? I yelled at you and made you apologize in your best… — Carmen Maria Machado Children Copy Share Image
“Beyond the table, there is an altar, with candles lit for Billie Holiday and Willa Carter and Hypatia and Patsy Cline. Next… — Carmen Maria Machado Altar Copy Share Image
“Stories can sense happiness and snuff it out like a candle.” — Carmen Maria Machado Happiness Copy Share Image
“Brides never fare well in stories. Stories can sense happiness and snuff it out like a candle.” — Carmen Maria Machado Brides Copy Share Image
“I was a creature so small, trapped in some crevice of an indifferent universe.” — Carmen Maria Machado Trapped Copy Share Image
“I called her two days later, never having believed more firmly in love at first sight, in destiny. When she laughed on… — Carmen Maria Machado Destiny Copy Share Image
“Please don't shut me out. Or if you're going to, just tell me, tell me so that I'm not dangling in this… — Carmen Maria Machado Honesty Copy Share Image
“I will look where her eyes would be. I will open my mouth to ask but then realize the question has answered… — Carmen Maria Machado Children Copy Share Image
“I took a step toward her. "It is my right to reside in my own mind. It is my right ," I… — Carmen Maria Machado Life Copy Share Image
“I have always been a teller of stories. When I was a young girl, my mother carried me out of a grocery… — Carmen Maria Machado Grocery store Copy Share Image
