“Her light extraordinary the power to create happiness is within her …”

“As a black woman, the decision to love yourself just as you are is a radical act. And I’m as radical as they come.”

“Then the pulse.Then a pause.Then twilight in a box.Dusk underfoot.Then generations.—Then the same war by a different name.Wine splashing in the bucket.The erection, the era.Then exit Reason.Then sadness without reason.Then the removal of the ceiling by hand.—Then pages & pages of numbers.Then the page with the faint green stain.Then the page on which Prince Theodore, gravely wounded, is thrown onto a wagon.Then the page on which Masha weds somebody else.Then the page that turns to the story of somebody else.Then the page scribbled in dactyls.Then the page which begins Exit Angel.Then the page wrapped around a dead fish.Then the page where the serfs reach the ocean.Then a nap.Then the peg.Then the page with the curious helmet.Then the page on which millet is ground.Then the death of Ursula.Then the stone page they raised over her head.Then the page made of grass which goes on.—Exit Beauty.—Then the page someone folded to mark her place.Then the page on which nothing happens.The page after this page.Then the transcript.Knocking within.Interpretation, then harvest.—Exit Want.Then a love story.Then a trip to the ruins.Then & only then the violet agenda.Then hope without reason.Then the construction of an underground passage between us.Srikanth Reddy, “Burial Practice” from Facts for Visitors. Copyright © 2004 by the Regents of the University of California. Reprinted by permission of The University of California Press. Source: Facts for Visitors (University of California Press, 2004)”

“It’s when we see the birth of a new born day that we truly appreciate what it is to be a parent when their new baby is born.”

“Poem (Internal Scene) To make beauty out of pain, it damns the eyes—No, dams the eyes. See how they overflow?No damns them, damns them, and so they cry.What shape can I swallow to make me whole?Baby’s bird-shaped block, blue-painted woodThat fits in the bird-hole of the painted wood box?The skeleton leaf? The skeleton key? LoudKnock when the shape won’t unlock any locks.I hear it through the static in the baby’s roomWhen the monitor clicks on and off, soundOf sea-ice cracking against the jagged sea-rocks,Laughing gull in the gale. What is it dives downPast sight, down there dark with the other blocks?It can’t be seen, only heard. A kind of curse,This kind curse. Forgive me. Blessing that hurts.”

“Every flower and insect, every bird, and all the creatures that live upon the land and swim within the rivers and seas, are part of the Tree of Life. You are connected to the whole of life. Whatever happens to the myriad forms of life in the world around you, has a direct affect on you”.”

“The intimate sense of self-awareness we experience bubbling up at each moment is rooted in the originating activity of the Universe. We are all of us arising together at the invisible center of the cosmos.” We once thought that we were no bigger than our physical bodies, but now we are discovering that we are deeply connected participants in the continuous co-arising of the entire Universe. Awakening to our larger identity as both unique and inseparably connected with a co- arising Universe transforms feelings of existential separation into experiences of subtle communion as bio-cosmic beings. We are far richer, deeper, more complex, and more alive than we ever thought”.”

“Beauty cannot possibly be youth alone:that is like earth stopping at autumn and sayingthat is enough.—I want to see all of you”

“You are a point of consciousness within multiple fields of consciousness that interpenetrate each other: A multi-dimentional being within a multi-dimentional Universe.When you realise the unity of all these fields of consciousness you share life with, you partake in conscious communion”.”

“They say that music soothes the soul.I think that’s true. Sometimes. But other times music stirs the soul,reaching deep and digging up pain we need to process, thoughts we need to wrestle with, fears we need to work through, sadness we need to sit with, loss we need to lay to rest. Music is powerful because it can reach past the guardhouse of the mind, taking on those dragons that jealously hoard the glittering treasure of the human spirit,and set the tortured soul free.”

“Beauty is not found in uniformity,nor value in conformity. It is in ourcolors and quirks and flaws and scarsthat true beauty and value unfold,because that is where our stories are told.”

“If life is what we make it, let’s make it beautiful.”

“She was sitting and thinking . . . when a tiny flower fell onto her plate. This was no miracle of course, the explanation was simple, Rhoda had picked some sprays of viburnum fragrans in the kitchen garden. . . . She had brought them in and arranged them in a bowl and placed them in the middle of the table―there was no more to it than that. Rhoda was about to brush the flower from her plate when suddenly the perfection of it struck her . . . one tiny flower-head but quite perfect. It was so small and insignificant that she herself who had picked the sprays and arranged them had not noticed the beauty of it. . . . The thought of the small insignificant thing with its perfection of beauty remained with her and gave her happiness. The floweret had dropped onto her plate. Look, it said. Here I am―and there are millions like me―and each one of us is perfect―perfectly beautiful. Here’s your world. It’s full of beauty. Be happy in it.”

“A smile can transform even the most saddest of faces into a thing of beauty & love.”

“Happy Wednesday.A smile is what makes everyday beautiful”