That Reminds Me Quotes

“I’m watching the day through a breeze blown slice in my curtains, obscuring nothing but my hour, summer and wind making peace, moving the leaves in the trees standing guard by my window, nervous after my attempts, the sun stroking fronds but leaving others in shadows, seeing the movement of the branches but hearing nothing but the serene sound of cars beyond the garden, limbs waving to me as a bird perches, maybe scouting for a house, onto the bough scratching the glass, knocking to bring me out into contentment while tiny flies shoot in and out of view, their quick existence something I could argue as I smell the fresh air through the dour scent of a depression that hasn’t left my room in days, then swiftly feeling like I’m outside, alive and welcoming the wind to raise the hairs on my arms, a contrast that blossoms into hope.”
― Derek Owusu, That Reminds Me

“It can be jarring. But family time is important. We all say we hate them but we love them really.”
― Owusu Derek, That Reminds Me

“My body requires a trigger warning, so even on hot days I wear full sleeves. The truth is blood across my wrists refusing to bleed out.”
― Owusu Derek, That Reminds Me

“Still, nobody left our home without a story of relative poverty to relay - the truth is, we were all black working class, but pretending we couldn't relate.”
― Owusu Derek, That Reminds Me

“I don't wear my scars, they wear me; wear me down, wear me out, coerce me into increasing their number until they've won the war. Sometimes, I think I may just let them.”
― Owusu Derek, That Reminds Me

“I couldn't burden my therapist or know I had the power to - so, therapist, I unburden you; yours was a shoulder that was supposed to stay dry. There are some people that you shouldn't see cry.”
― Owusu Derek, That Reminds Me

“Love speaks on, while sex needs time to breathe, and it was the echo of someone who loved me that kept me from thinking I needed to get a word in on my destiny.”
― Owusu Derek, That Reminds Me

“Then my mum grabbed my hand so I could feel the kicks, but as I touched her stomach I knew it was a palm trying to connect with me through the skin, and my bond with my brother touchingly began.”
― Owusu Derek, That Reminds Me

“I see cities aren't for me, that artificial lights create artificial love, and a love for our corner of the universe can never exist if you've never seen the stars. I wish I could walk through cities shooting out streetlights, bathing bodies with tender potential.”
― Owusu Derek, That Reminds Me

“Anansi, your four gifts raised to Nyame grant you no power over the stories I tell, stories that build like dew, alerting you but creating no music when they drop onto the drums of our sky. Take my ‘gift ’, words bound in time, directly to him and tell me if his features betray recognition or sorrow.”
― Derek Owusu, That Reminds Me

“Anansi, your four gift s raised to Nyame grant you no power over the stories I tell, stories that build like dew, alerting you but creating no music when they drop onto the drums of our sky. Take my ‘gift ’, words bound in time, directly to him and tell me if his features betray recognition or sorrow.”
― Derek Owusu, That Reminds Me

“After a late-night library trip I’d call her and say, ‘Look at the moon.’ Black boys rarely speak on the poet’s muse so these twilight tropes seemed original – the moon is glowing new when seen through eyes deprived of cliché.”
― Derek Owusu, That Reminds Me

“I wanted to live again. As they gathered, I felt the pressure of each tear awake to its own trickling sand weighing down the dirt on my grave.”
― Derek Owusu, That Reminds Me

“As I walk home, doubting each step before I make it, I am agnostic. Before I close my eyes to sleep, I am a Christian. When I wake, pulled from the pool still reflecting the penumbra, I am spiritual, I am thankful”
― Derek Owusu, That Reminds Me