When the Stars Wrote Back Quotes

“There are two versions of me:
one that forgives like forgiveness is the only thing
they serve here, so I just have to keep ordering it,
and one that doesn’t.
The one that doesn’t
is the one that writes the poems.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“I am not always pretty and I am not always kind.
I will rip apart the next man who tries
to make the mess of me
into something delicate and mild.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“In the dream,
whenever I open my mouth
I upset my mother.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“I don’t want to be another name on the list of angry women in our family.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“The person you are at the beginning of a story is rarely who you are at the end of one.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“I stayed as long as anyone can stay in a place they don’t really belong.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“I will not be a fairy-tale mermaid willing to give up her own voice for love.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“I keep trying to make myself small enough to give other people space to grow.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“Now you have the audacity to bloom on my doorstep again like some cheap metaphor for spring. You rise from the ashes of my mistrust and you do this unforgivable thing: you still make me go soft in the middle.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“I make my own constellations.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“Sunsets. Stargazing. The dream of a home with a garden. Tomato plants. Sunshine. Strawberry ice cream. New tattoos. Road trips. Mangos. All the books you haven’t read yet. Days spent at the beach. Violets. Saltwater. Plane tickets. Poetry.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“If I could,
I would hold conversations
with the moon.

I would ask Venus
about loneliness
and Mars about anger.

I would tell the black hole
that I know what it feels like.

I would write letters
to the cosmos;

and when the stars wrote back,
they would say the most dazzling
and necessary things.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“I get these pains
in my chest
sometimes

like my heart is trying
to beat its way out.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“Like it’s more of a river and not an ocean
but as far as I’m concerned
you can drown in either one.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“Sometimes I wonder
if signs we want from the universe
are really just signs we want
from ourselves.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back: Poems

“You tried to make a grave out of me and I almost let you.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“Whoever I love next will know I am ready for them,
that they are more than a buffer between me and my sadness.
Together we will build a house that trauma cannot live inside.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“Let me be the start of something new.
Let me live according to that.
An origin instead of a pattern.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“every night is another dream about car keys / a half-packed suitcase / passports and plane tickets / arrivals gates / crowded train stations / vacant parking lots / fields of wheat / sunrises in other cities / smoke spiraling up and away”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“Let me be the start of something new. Let me live according to that. An origin instead of a pattern.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“Nostalgia is a wet sundress sticking to my legs.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back

“Good times to leave platonic relationships: When you feel exhausted after talking to them. When you no longer trust them. When they only talk about themselves. When they don’t value your time. When they stop putting effort into the relationship. When they don’t respect your boundaries. When they don’t respect your identities. When they don’t respect your well-being. When you stop growing together. When they manipulate you. When they don’t share or agree with your morals or values. When you fight more than you talk. When any kind of abuse occurs. When taking care of yourself means leaving. When you want to.”
― Trista Mateer, When the Stars Wrote Back