Shailja Patel Famous Quotes
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Seal the borders
of my body to pain,
seal my eyes, mouth, belly
to any hunger not
my own.
I rename myself
America. No love
no grief in the world but mine.
How many ways can you splice a history? Price a
country? Dice a people? Slice a heart? Entice what's been
erased back into story? My-gritude.
Have you ever taken a word in your hand, dared to shape
your palm to the hollow where the fullness falls away?
Have you ever pointed it back to its beginning? Felt it
leap and shudder in your fingers like a dowsing rod? Jerk,
like a severed thumb? Flare with the forbidden name of a
goddess returning? My-gritude.
Have you ever set out to search for a missing half?
the piece that isn't shapely, elegant, simple. The half
that's ugly, heavy, abrasive. Awkward to the hand. Gritty
on the tongue.
Migritude.
How much we can do without is our strength.
History buried becomes history repeated. A whole generation of Africans have been denied the truth of their own history, and so we do not really know ourselves, or our countries. Reclaiming those erased or hidden histories is vital political and creative work, and is central to my purpose as a writer.
