Promises of Gold Quotes

“i should apologize–

it’s true my dad stopped hugging me,

but i never say the other part:

i stopped hugging him too.”
― José Olivarez, Promises of Gold

“Poetry Is Not Therapy but that doesn’t mean i didn’t try it. god knows in those moments when it felt like my gut was being wrung like a wet rag, i wrote bad poem after bad poem. who cares? healing wasn’t the point. (healing is a capitalist pursuit) after my grandma died, i measured everything in distance: eight hundred miles from my parents. two thousand five hundred miles from where she was buried. do you understand what i’m saying? i’ll never close the distance. i wanted the hurting to stop. to write a poem i could hand all my friends asking me how i was doing. how am i doing? the distance between me & everyone i’ve lost grows by miles & years.”
― José Olivarez, Promises of Gold

“I should apologize — it’s true my dad stopped hugging me, but I never say the other part: I stopped hugging him too.”
― José Olivarez, Promises of Gold

“Perder sidewalks lined with branches flashing scarlet buds & i want to know if it’s true—my grandma in the ground for a couple of years— is it long enough? is it her lipstick blushing the blooms of the trees? or am i trying to forget the only lesson we are required to learn: the first loss is not the last loss & once the losing begins it won’t stop until it has taken everything.”
― José Olivarez, Promises of Gold

“Some Words Look Nice Until You Try Them On the children at the poor school were given encouraging posters. they were given uplifting talks. empowerment seminars. (they were not given money.) dear god, i’ll never understand how some people meet a drowning person & offer INSPIRATIONAL advice instead of offering a hand or rope.”
― José Olivarez, Promises of Gold

“Ojalá: My Homie Oscar once saw someone get jumped for their shoes. we didn’t stop wanting Jordans. instead, we learned that if we ever had shoes worth robbing, it was better to hide them in our backpacks. dear god, this is how we learned to be boys: we kept everything we loved close by & out of sight.”
― José Olivarez, Promises of Gold

“or am i trying to forget / the only lesson we are required to learn: / the first loss is not the last loss / & once the losing begins / it won't stop / until it has taken everything.”
― José Olivarez, Promises of Gold

“one of those boy-man philosophers i kicked it with / gave me the following advice: no relationship / works between man & woman unless the man / is more yoked.”
― José Olivarez, Promises of Gold