Clap When You Land

by Elizabeth Acevedo

Swimming might be the closest to flying a human being can get.

Playing chess taught me a queen is both: deadly & graceful, poised & ruthless. Quiet & cunning.

Dreams are like the pieces of fluff that get caught in your hair; they stand out for a moment, but eventually you wash them away, or long fingers reach in & pluck them out

Is this what sisterhood is? A negotiation of the things you make possible out of impossible requests?

“They don’t do that as much anymore. This must be a plane of Dominicans returning home; when you touch down on this soil, you must clap when you land.