Kelli Russell Agodon Quotes

and everyone wants to read the poem
we’re afraid to write.

Maybe I’m still the mermaid.
Maybe the ocean is your hand.

Like the kite that caught up to the sky,
painted with clouds, I lost track of it,
but it was connected

by string, something I was holding,
something I could always
bring back.

Maybe if I could slip into Sylvia's mind, sort out the spices in her rack, alphabetize them and dust them off. Maybe then I'd understand how it's the little things that pull you under.

Yes, it hurts to fall -
ache, tenderness
- but each scar is a sign your system is working.

I can’t relate to your razzle-dazzle, your wish
for voluptuous when my symphony is spanx.

in the corner of the painting of success
the signature is blurred

the moon is just another kind of clock

We must live with our hearts
in our hands - like Mary.

We must hold the blood-
red heart and no be disappointed
when others look away.

To suffer together is to suffer
with beauty,

Sometimes darkness
is the beauty I am made of -

She pours sugar on her life
and drinks the artist’s marrow
in the bone of her glass and she lives.

As I go under, I wonder if there’s a reason for art?

I don’t believe we should carry backup
plans in life’s suitcase -

they’re too easy to unpack
like living a life in yoga pants,
so comfortable our hips spread
into new timezones...