The Stars and the Blackness Between Them

by Junauda Petrus

All of we being our full self in a world where most of we is told to contort, lie, or die.

All I know about love is how to find its hurt and its endings after I find its sweetness.

I think what many parents struggle with, mine included, is that they may not know how to love us in the way that we need. I think that being a parent can bring up a lot of your own fears and traumas and a lot of parents don’t know how to not pass that on to their own kids,”

‘If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched up into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive.’”

“Life is hard for women, because we strong and the world ain’t wan’ to love us for it.