Quotes from work

Wintergirls

“I am beginning to measure myself in strength, not pounds. Sometimes in smiles.”

“I want to go to sleep and not wake up, but I don’t want to die.”

“The stuffing/puking/stuffing/puking/stuffing/puking didn't make her skinny, it made her cry.”

“He doesn't see my breasts or my waist or my hips. He only sees the nightmare.”

“Why are you being so mean?"
"Friends tell friends the truth."
"yeah, but not to hurt, to help.”

“I knit the afternoon away. I knit reasons for Elijah to come back. I knit apologies for Emma. I knit angry knots and slipped stitches for every mistake I ever made, and I knit wet, swollen stitches that look awful. I knit the sun down.”

“I won the wintergirl trip over the border into dangerland.”

“I wish I had cancer. I will burn in hell for that, but it's true.”

“Because I am still a little girl who believes in Santa and the tooth fairy and you.”

“I knew how much it hurt to be the daughter of people who can't see you, not even if you are standing in front of them stomping your feet.”

“If I run or breathe too deep, the cheap stitches holding me together will snap, and all the stickiness inside will pour out and burn through the concrete.”

“I would never be popular. I didn't want to be; I liked being shy. I'd never be the smartest or the hottest or the happiest. By eighth grade you start to figure out your limits.”

“None of [the books are] worth reading. There are no fairy tales, no faerie tails, no sword-swinging princesses or lightning-throwing gods.”

“I don't just use yarn from a store. I buy old sweaters from consignment shops. The older the better, and unravel them. There are countries of women in this scarf/shawl/blanket. Soon it will be big enough to keep me warm.”

“We swore sacred oaths to be strong and to save the planet and to be friends forever.”

“I keep thinking that if I could just unzip my skin, step out of this body, then I would see who I really am.”

“They yell at me because I can’t see what they see. Nobody can explain to me why my eyes work different than theirs. Nobody can make it stop.”

“There's no point in asking why, even though everybody will. I know why. The harder question is "why not?" I can't believe she ran out of answers before I did.”

“Here stands a girl clutching a knife. There is grease on the stove, blood in the air, and angry words piled in the corners. We are trained not to see it, not to see any of it…. Someone just ripped off my eyelids.”