1. "I have held my tongue in anger. I have held my tongue in fear. I have remained silent. Silent. Silent. And I think, that is far too cruel a fate for my words."
2. "Learning the language of you between my lips."
3. "You are the kind of lover that makes the sun rise, set, gold with the suggestion of your fingertips. This is my favorite kind of morning."
4. "I want to love myself so deeply that the only name I whisper in the dead of night is my own. I won’t love you any less; I just won’t need you to tell me my heart is still beating."
5. "This is what you have given me. 1. A heart that recoils at the sight of blood. 2. Hands that reach into places they should not be to carve the names of old lovers you never mention but I know you miss. 3. Eyes that sweep over my body in the mirror and see only places where your fingers have been. 4. A gnawing, bone deep fear of love."
6. "If only the seasons wrote new stories on our bones the way your laugh seems to praise the earth for blooming."
7. "In his wake, novels flourished within me that I knew could be written by my hands. There is no greater parting gift."
8. "I still sing songs in the shower. Letting warm water roll lazily down bare skin while I scrub kisses and touches from my thighs. Today was miles long, reaching from ear to ear to gather all smiles and teeth. I’ve learned the world can take me as I am. Love rolling off my tongue. Smothered in oil, dipped in coconut. I sleep well. I have all I need."
9. "Be kind to your body. You are learning what it means to become more than a roof, a wall, a ceiling. You are becoming a woven tapestry of comforts, a home to yourself. It takes time."
10. "Unravel me in the evening, take this day, heavy, off my skin. Lay with me in truth. For you, I am an ocean."
11. "Speak only if your words are steeped in honey, my wounds are sore, salt soaked, desperate for healing."
12. "Some words, how they build a universe in your skin."
13. "I am proud of all the sins I wear like words I never said but know I should have."
14. "Women: You are not meant to be a temporary structure. You bring, you sustain, you nurture life. You are the heart of many. You are a permanent and irreplaceable landscape. A lover, friend, mother, fighter, sister, role model, scholar, champion. A victory. A roadmap of comforts. A home."
15. "I promise to love you fiercely if only you’ll crave me madly."
16. "Let your heart settle. Rub rose oil on your bruises. Scent the air with salt. Be present with your pain. Remind yourself, (more than once if necessary) it is OK to shatter. Even the sky weeps."
17. "I have chosen to shower myself in forgiveness. I have decided to bathe myself in absolute breathtaking love."
18. "Honey flowed like wine from womb to creation, and then there was you."
19. "Soft is the ease of evening. Shoulders hunched into shells bulldozed by day. There is tea and a hint of light left in the window. We fall into each other, lost and alive. Brilliantly both."
20. "You smell of peppermint, melted dark chocolate licked from fingers in the heat of early morning, of sins I tasted in secret. Sins that cling to skin, that make me feel like perhaps you will still be here when I open my eyes in the morning. You won’t be, you say. I know. But it doesn’t stop me from placing flowers on the grave of this love we killed so beautifully with impatience."
You can purchase your own beautiful copy of "Shifting Bone" by Alison Malee on Amazon.com.
