But Still She Flies Quotes

“We may have been
flawless then—
but look at us now.
Look how we shine.
Look at the map we've
made in these fractures—
in all the places where
the world got its hands
on us.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings

“And one day, these outsides
will be left behind,
cicada-like, as the contents
rise and fly.

You're certain to see more
of me—that knobby tree,
that wave, that wing.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings

“stretch the sadness like taffy,
marvel at how portable
pain can be when
you welcome it.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings

“when we
were birds,
we knew
how to ride
the wind's whims,
to tire ourselves
with flight,
to sleep at night
like stones.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings

“You stepped in rhythm to her breaths.
Strolling through seasons—
winter's whites,
the pink nectars of spring,
summer's ripest green,
and the speckled reds of fall,
inviting impermanence into us all.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings

“My long smooth neck had felt only
kisses and the warmth of winter
scarves. Your neck was bleeding,

raw, and could scarecely endure a
swallow, a breath, the bandage I'd
wrapped clumsily around your
lifetime of injuries.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings

“Maybe one day you'll see
me latched barkside to that tree,
teasing my way out of the skin I'm in
until I plunk into the dirt. Until I slither
then fly. Shiny and high.
Leaving only an effigy—
a hollowed-out
replica
behind.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings

“With your weathered
feathers,

sunken breast and
chipped beak, you
can exit now.

Spread the wire
with your wings
and sing

the sweet melody
that still wriggles in
your throat,

as you soar out
the window that
was always there.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings

“everything widens and withers,
opens and closes,
expands and contracts—
like a tulip
like an ice cream shop
like a heart.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings

“My mind is on the poem I'm writing—
language pollinated, packed neatly
into hexagonal cells.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings

“With winged companions
by my side,
I will stretch.
I will soar.
I will fly.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings

“Mother's latitude loosens,
she shakes out her hair,
gets down to the business
of repair—

of tidying up the mess
we've left in her living room.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings

“Yes, Dad—
I liked that call we had yesterday.
It carried me hundreds of miles away
to a creek bed in Tennessee.
To those days when we
knew just what to do
with the fragile things.

Those days
when your pick
was steady.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings

“Sip a cup of tea slowly
and slide into a sleep
that carries you
back to those softer days
when I cradled you
in the curves of
my consistency.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings

“Grown-ups now, we occupy our
concrete paths, little griefs buzzing
around our ears like mosquitos.
We swat them away.
We turn our heads,
swallowing our sadness whole.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings