Nayyirah Waheed

“i loved you because it was easier than loving myself.”

— Nayyirah waheed

“it was only and ever love.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“poetry. is the fire leaving my body.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“No’ might make them angry but it will make you free.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“where you are. is not who you are. – circumstances”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“i am writing my way back to you.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“i am a brutally soft woman.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“healing begins the moment you want it to”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“i don't pay attention to the world ending. it has ended for me many times and began again in the morning.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“you not wanting me was the beginning of me wanting myself thank you”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“bleed every month. but do not die. how am i not magic. – the lie”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“i believe that everyone in the world. has one poem. that is their soulmate.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“you broke the ocean in half to be here. only to meet nothing that wants you. – immigrant”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“i have lost millions and millions of words to fear. tell me that is not violence”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“(that neverending nurturing you need. the sea has it.)”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“expect sadness like you expect rain. both, cleanse you.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“sometimes the beauty of my people is so thick and intricate. i spend days trying to undo my eyes so i can…

— nayyirah waheed

“Would you still want to travel to that country if you could not take a camera with you --- a question of…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“have you ever heard a black woman weep over her skinmurdered child. it is the splitting of atoms. it is billions of…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“unharm someone by telling the truth you could not face when you struck instead of tended. – put the fire out (unburn)”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“if a man can only show vulnerability for what is between my legs. can only be a heart during sex. if an…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“Just because someone desires you, it does not mean they value you. Read it over. Again And let those words resonate in…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“If someone does not want me it is not the end of the world. But if I do not want me, the…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“to be waterdrugged into rejecting the nuances of my own bursting extraordinary self. and to have this be called education.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“i do not expect my child’s respect. just because i have given birth to their life. does not mean they owe me.…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“my english is broken. on purpose. you have to try harder to understand me. breaking this language you so love is my…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“i am drunk from all the honey. i have been drinking. for days straight. every night i eat water until i fall…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“precious. is a word we barely know. but know we are not. so then i say this to you. you. with the…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“islam. is still in my life. we are old soulmates. who could not work out the knots against skin. who could not…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“i will tell you, my daughter of your worth not your beauty every day. (your beauty is a given. every being is…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“decolonization requires acknowledging. that your needs and desires should never come at the expense of another’s life energy. it is being honest…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“black women breathe flowers, too. just because we are taught to grow them in the lining of our quiet (our grandmothers secret)…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“the first time the caregiver saw it on the child. they said ‘no. don’t you dare. you will not grow up thinking…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“when you meet that person. a person. one of your soulmates. let the connection. relationship. be what it is. it may be…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“creativity keeps the world alive, yet, everyday we are asked to be ashamed of honoring it, wanting to live our lives as…

— Nayyirah Waheed

“i have never understood. will probably never understand. the white mans lust to eat the world. to eat the universe. (mars is…

— nayyirah waheed

“i found flaws and they were beautiful. – ugly”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“chibok. (the immutable measure of black life.)”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“i am mine. before i am ever anyone else's.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

“a friend. is someone who supports your breath.”

— Nayyirah Waheed