Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart Quotes

“And when they spy on us let them discover us loving”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“Hope is a woman who has lost her fear.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“No one escapes a time in life when the arrow of sorrow, of anger, of despair pierces the heart. For many of us, there is the inevitable need to circle the wound. It is often such a surprise to find it there, in us, when we had assumed arrows so painful only landed in the hearts of other people. Some of us spend decades screaming at the archer. Or at least for longer periods than are good for us. How to take the arrow out of the heart? How to learn to relieve our own pain? That is the question.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“If I could be
the mother of Wind
I would blow all fear
away from you.

If I could be
the mother of Water
I would wash out the path
that frightens you.

If I were the mother
of Trees
I would plant
my tallest children
around your feet
that you might
climb
beyond all danger.

But alas,
I am only
a mother of humans
whose magic powers
have vanished
since we allow
our littlest ones
to face injustice
suffering
& the unholiest
of terrors
alone.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“How peculiar it feels
to speak about
health care in America
taking care of people’s
health
while our government
bombs
the limbs
off children
in faraway lands.
And starves and imprisons
not a few of them
at home.
How odd
that it seems
not obviously known
that true health care
must mean, at minimum,
deliberate non-harming
of anyone?”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“How do we make new
and restorative of soul
the old pain? How do we learn
to carry with grace and humor
all that has happened to us?”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“The world rising
can put an end
to anything:
the murder of children
whales
elephants
oceans.
Get up. Roll over
on that part
of you
that will not
welcome
recognize
encourage
or even see
our rise.
A compassionate roll:
we must be done
with cruelty
especially to ourselves,
to start again
beaming like the sun;
fresh.
But a roll that shows
we’ve reached the end
of polite moves
to repair and re-create the Earth,
and will press hard
on any parts of us
even those we have loved,
that insist
on remaining
oblivious
and
asleep.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“My friend says to me:
But what can we do? Already giving up.
To be aware is already something,
I say. Consciousness rarely
leaves us unmoved. Or unmoving.
And so it is with this revelation
of what has been happening
to our children, all of them,
and especially to our boys.
The beast in so-called
civilized man
is more lethal, sinister,
grotesque and cunning
than I would have believed:

And what is it, anyhow, this beast?
How does it manifest
in every age
to plague our republic
from shadows
it projects
as light?”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“A foot. Remember how DuBois saw those human feet in a
butcher's window in downtown Atlanta?
Brother, Sister, Children,
you are not crazy to feel crazy
here.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“Be what they do not want:
Be thoughtful.
Be skilled at loving.
Be of good heart.
Be of the world tribe.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“We will never regret
having been born in this
cruel time
for we recognize it
for what it is: the time of fullness
of heart.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“Even on those days
the news is fully bad.
And all you can do is get out of bed
and failing that
give thanks you have a bed not to get out of.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“it is the sense
that something that was alive
for a very long time
is still alive. Not yet beaten into
submission
or oblivion
by those who kill everything
they touch
with money.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“It does not matter to me:
wherever you are grieving
whether Paris, Damascus, Jerusalem, Bamako,
Mexico or Beirut or New York City
my heart, too, is bruised
and dragging.
There used to be such a thing
as melodrama
when feelings could be
made up,
but now there is bare pain
and sorrow,
a sense of endlessly missed
opportunities
to smile and embrace
"The other.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“In our despair that justice is slow
we sit with heads bowed
wondering
how
even whether
we will ever be healed.

Perhaps it is a question
only the ravaged
the violated
seriously ask.
And is that not now
almost all of us?
But hope is on the way.

As usual Hope is a woman
herding her children
around her
all she retains of who
she was; as usual
except for her kids
she has lost almost everything.

Hope is a woman who has lost her fear.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“Even on those days
the news is fully bad.
And all you can do is get out of bed
and failing that
give thanks you have a bed not to get out of.
What does it take to make us smile
when we feel the sword of anger
and hatred
sharp against the backs
of our peaceful necks?
What does it take
to make us stand together
as if we just grew that way?
What does it take to know
the day of peace and justice
will one day come?
No matter who
is so badly
directing traffic?
What does it take
to feel a joy so strong
you can almost levitate?
All it takes, really,
is presence,
knowing that you, and those who feel
as you do,
ignoring roadblocks
will arrive.
Will brave the flights, the slights,
the nights of wondering
if and why:
the years of pain sometimes required
to know
where it is most essential
to appear.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“I am telling you
Discouraged One
we will win.
And I will show you
why.
We are the offspring
of the ignorantly
discarded:
we conjure
sunrise
with our smiles
and provoke music
out of trash.
Who can completely
disappear
such genius?”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“Now we are beginning to ask
the crucial question.
If it is natural to be black
and red or brown or yellow
and if it is beautiful to resist
oppression
and if it is gorgeous to be of color
and walking around free,
then where does the problem
lie?
Who are these people
that kill our children in the night?”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“To the Po'lice

In case you are
wondering
the answer is yes:
you have hurt us. Deeply.
Just as you
intended:
you and those
who sent you.
You do know by now
that you do not send
yourself?
I imagine your Designers
sitting back
in the shadows
laughing
as we weep.
Though usually devoid of feeling,
they are experiencing a sensation
they almost enjoy:
they get to witness, by twisted
enchantment, dozens
of strong black mothers
weeping.
They planned
and nurtured
your hatred and fear
and focused the kill shot.
Then watched you
try to explain
your innocence on TV.
It is entertainment for
them. They chuckle and drink
Watching you squirm.
They have tied you up
in a bag of confusion
from which you
will never escape.
It’s true you are white, but you are so fucking poor,
and dumb, to boot, they say.
A consideration that turns
them pink
with glee.
(They have so many uses planned
for the poor, white, and dumb: you would be
amazed).
You and the weeping mothers
have more in common than you might think:
the mothers know this.
They have known you
far longer
than you have known them. After centuries,
even those in the shadows, your masters,
offer little mystery.
If you could
find your true courage
you might risk everything
to sit within a circle, surrounded
by these women. Their eyes red
from weeping, their throats raw.
(They might strike you too, who could swear
they wouldn’t?)
Their sons are dead
and it was you
who did the deed.
Scary enough.
But within that enclosure
Naked to their grief
Is where you must center
If you are ever
To be freed.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“That politicians
who smiled at us and kissed our babies
blue eyes shining with triumph
well knew we were falling
into our graves
kicked by them
as they counted
our votes.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“I am beginning to comprehend
the mystery
of the gift of suffering.
It is true as some
have said
that it is a crucible
in which the gold of one’s spirit
is rendered
and shines.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“Is Celie actually ugly?
Asks the charismatic star playing her
on Broadway.
How many times over the years
I have explained
this.
Celie and her “prettier” sister Nettie
are practically identical.
They might be twins.
But Life has forced on Celie
all the hardships
Nettie mostly avoids....
Endless labor that would
demean and soon obliterate
the observable loveliness
of the most queenly slave.
I wanted us to think about
how superficial is our understanding
of beauty; but, also, how beauty
is destroyed.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“But cheer up. Who could have imagined
What the world is really like
When we were children?
We’re old now, but in spite of all we learned,
So much of it dreadful and scary, even
Petrifying,
We gave Life
Our best shot.
Perfection will have
To wait for the next incarnation.
And I mean of the world, not just us.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“Some realities drive us to our knees
and since I was there
already
before my altar
I unwrapped and lit
the beeswax candles
I acquired for you.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

“Repelled by cruelty
let us ban it
from our hearts.”
― Alice Walker, Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart