Afifah Luqman

“Maybe a person is just made up of a lot of people," I say. "Maybe we're accumulating these new selves all the time.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“I gave up practically the whole world for you,” I tell him, walking through the front door of my own love story. “The sun, stars, ocean, trees, everything, I gave it all up for you.”
― Jandy Nelson, I'll Give You the Sun

“When they say the heart wants what it wants, they’re talking about the poetic heart—the heart of love songs and soliloquies, the one that can break as if it were just-formed glass. They’re not talking about the real heart, the one that only needs healthy foods and aerobic exercise. But the poetic heart is not to be trusted. It is fickle and will lead you astray. It will tell you that all you need is love and dreams. It will say nothing about food and water and shelter and money. It will tell you that this person, the one in front of you, the one who caught your eye for whatever reason, is the One. And he is. And she is. The One—for right now, until his heart or her heart decides on someone else or something else. The poetic heart is not to be trusted with long-term decision-making.”
― Nicola Yoon, The Sun is Also a Star

“I will catch you. I will claim you. I will love you to bits.”

As I love you, the junk man’s daughter thinks. As I love you and love you and love you. And she does. She loves him so much. As she loves everyone. It is dangerous, this love, and she can’t control it. It is ever so much bigger than she, and growing by the day. It is a river. An ocean. The sky. Her love crushes planets, shatters suns, burns whole galaxies to cinders and dust.

“And then, child, I will drain you.”

Yes, she thinks. You can try.

“Do you hear me? I WILL DRAIN YOU DRY.”

Try, she thinks. Try and you will drown in it. You will drown, and drown, and drown.”
― Kelly Barnhill, Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories