In Our Beautiful Bones Quotes

“one day
may the bullets knives nooses knees hands of hate war tyranny
burst into roses

may all darkness that lives among us inside us around us
bloom into jasmine

may pain be transformed into lilies
sweet scent lifting us all to new light”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“who is this maker who unmakes us
mote by mote
smite by smite
and smote by smote”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“for look O look
pity him

O look the white man's burden is heavy
look how heavy it is”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“great saint of nonviolence
Ben Kingsley played you well
whose story did they tell whose story did they kill”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“American you are beautiful
sometimes you have the biggest heart I know
sometimes you have the smallest heart I know”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“Death rules the planet. Hunger
is everywhere. Still, I am safe.
For now. For those like me, whom
luck has favored, our bellies are
never empty. We send our small
donations to charities everywhere.
Gleaners, World Central Kitchen
(Go Chef Jose Andres!), Vibha
(Go Chef Vikas Khanna!), Calcutta
Rescue (Go my friends!), and Covid
relief organizations. Pray for our
homeless, jobless, bereaved,
and dying brothers and sisters. Just
tiny drops, just tiny drops
of good intention in this vast
ocean of human pain.”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“What? Are we safe?

Yes. Yes. And no.
No, Ma, America is not safe. Sure, some policemen
kill people who don’t look like them—it’s scary.
White men march nowadays, shouting threats.
They put children in cages at the border. Have

they no hearts? Bad things could happen
to us here too. This is our home now, Ma.”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“Not religious. Respects all religions. A free spirit. A bit woo woo.”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“no escape
I will surely
be struck
by lightning

by the God of Abraham and my ancestors
by the God of the happy people with bright clothes
or by the fiery trident of blue-skinned Shiva”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“well-dressed kindly folk
with their children and some elderly folks trailing
and one or two couples who are black
are skipping along too
I don't see any brown-skinned ones
maybe we are welcome too who knows
they want to add us to the flock”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“I am writing a poem
about Shiva and Parvati

and the universe is spinning
burning up in his tandava
his final no-holds barred
destruction dance”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“Does your husband speak English

I say fluently No kidding he says

Where my husband works I say there are folks from all over the world
speaking English with different accents and many
don’t understand each other but it’s OK

No kidding he says and bellows loudly whacks my hand pushes back
his Redwings cap with both hands
The van wanders Cars honk all around I wince”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“They should all learn English

They do I say they do
some are better at it than others
they struggle hard all day
all day like my students at Oakland Community College
working shifts working three jobs working at grammar
late into the night so they can go to college rush to class eyes red
become doctors lawyers engineers

Yeah he says”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“Now why do they all come here
Yeah yeah high salaries
I know I know
What if you want a new life I say
for you for your kids Yeah hmmm he says chews his cheek”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“raising his voice he tells me he can’t understand immigrants

I say our accents are different can be confusing
tell him I’m an English teacher have been for 16 years
No kidding he says looks at me hard
swerves to miss a car

Don’t they know they should speak English
if they want to live here”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“and sometimes even a very bright person,
will exclaim
see you how lucky you are
that your country was colonized
just as well just as well don't you think
they will say and then beam at you”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“we may have triple PhDs and win Pulitzers
even a Nobel or two

but
non-native speakers of English
they call us in America

how come you speak English they ask
how come you speak such good English

ah the British stayed for only 200 years you know”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“A funny thing happened,

you said, and laughed.
An old man with piercing
eyes stopped you
on your way up,
and said,
It's nice to see you.

Who was he?--you wondered.
Nice to see you too,
you'd muttered.
He wailed

I miss my darkies!

And then he burst
into tears, turned and left.
You were puzzled, you said.
You felt sorry for him, you said.

My chest heaved.
I couldn't speak.

That night, on our drive home,
as our guests slept in the back seat,
I told you what he meant.”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“oh sing with me sing with me what is made one
should not be pulled asunder
we who are embraced
by sweet Lady Liberty
we who are made so beautiful
so varied
so new
so whole again
inside the harbor
of your arms oh America
we are you do you not see

do not lead us into darkness
do not
hate our gods our children
throw us not into camps prisons ghettos
smash your jackboots into us

but deliver yourself
from that dagger
the dagger you can become”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“when I say love I mean you
when I say home I mean you

when I say to you
we are so beautiful do not turn away
do not shatter America America
for richer for poorer
we are your beautiful bones
your heart
your veins
are made of us
why are you afraid our blood is the same color”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“look into my eyes America
how easy it is
to dream in Technicolor

o say white say red say blue
and every color
we who made and make you still
we have built
your towers
your tracks your bridges
with our bones

from sea to shining sea this is our home
home is where the heart is
yes all the broken ones”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“You think, how shocked
you once were that food could be made
into craft as people in your old
country and war zones starved. But

now you can shrug, take the chuck
roast out of the oven, watch
survivors crossing borders
caught on video, under constant fire,
scaling razor fences, ladders
to freedom.”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“Snow's a new word I fear.
The "s" in "snow"
wraps around me like an icy tongue,
the "o" like blue lips
with the power
to swallow everything.”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“Lake Michigan spreading below
is a vast bright sea,
and there are tiny white boats
like stitches all over it;
the sky is full of still-life
airplanes, suspended
at different levels, hanging

in cobalt air. I cry at the beauty.”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones

“Is my husband
really waiting for me? This distance

has grown dangerous.”
― Zilka Joseph, In Our Beautiful Bones