“Wish on everything. Pink cars are good, especially old ones. And stars of course, first stars and shooting stars. Planes will do if they are the first light in the sky and look like stars. Wish in tunnels, holding your breath and lifting your feet off the ground. Birthday candles. Baby teeth.” IfsFirstsLooksLightCoursesWishStarsAttitudeFeetSkyCarBabyBreathsTeethShootingPlanesCandleLiftingTunnelsShooting StarFeet Off The GroundBaby Teeth Author:Francesca Lia Block
“His own voice was older than he was. Ancient, unearthed from some mystical subterranean place...The voice seemed to make his whole body ache. Maybe it made him bleed inside. I wondered if it hurt, if it burned in his throat.” IfsMadeWholeBodyVoiceHurtAncientThroatBurnedIt HurtsMysticalAche Author:Francesca Lia Block
“Choose to believe in your own myth your own glamour your own spell a young woman who does this (even if she is just pretending) has everything.” IfsBelieveDoeYoungMythPretendingSpellsYoung WomenGlamour Author:Francesca Lia Block
“If death is your lover, you don't got to be afraid ever that he will ever leave you” IfsLovers Author:Francesca Lia Block
“If Los Angeles is a woman reclining billboard model with collagen-puffed lips and silicone-inflated breasts, a woman in a magenta convertible with heart-shaped sunglasses and cotton candy hair; if Los Angeles is this woman, then the San Fernando Valley is her teenybopper sister. The teenybopper sister snaps bug stretchy pink bubbles over her tongue and checks her lipgloss in the rearview mirror, . . . Teeny plays the radio too loud and bites her nails, wondering if the glitter polish will poison her.” IfsHeartPlayWonderHairModelsMirrorsLipsRadioTongueChecksLoudPoisonBreastsLos AngelesBitesValleysBubblesNailsCandyBugsPolishSnapsGlitterCottonSunglassesBillboardsRearview MirrorCotton CandyMagentaCollagen Author:Francesca Lia Block
“All the things that girls feel they are not when they fear that if they become, if they are, they will no longer be loved by the sisters whose hearts they have not meant to break. And besides, if the sisters are gone and only the beloved remains with his dense curls and his lips, how safe are you then? You have to have him or you will die if the sisters are gone with their listening ears and their feet to rub and their bodies to dress and their shared loneliness.” IfsFeelsHeartBodyDiesGirlBreakGoneFeetLonelinessListeningSafeEarsDressesRemainsLipsBelovedCurlsDenseThat GirlListening Ear Author:Francesca Lia Block
“Under the ground seep the toxins of the population that lives above. If you have to, you will eat roots and earthworms. It is always night. Candles burn in lanterns made from tin cans. When it is nighttime up above, you can crawl out, but only for a little while. You feel ashamed of your matted hair, your torn clothes, the dirt on your face. Who would want to speak to you? They are all shiny and pretty. They have parents and house with gardens. What do you have? The earth. Whole handfuls of it. The lizard people with their slit eyes and scaly skin. Your loneliness. Your longing.” PeopleIfsWantFeelsLittlesMadeWholeEyeEarthFacesNightHouseSpeakParentLonelinessHairClothesGardenRootsSkinsLongingPopulationAshamedYour FaceCandleDirtTornHandfulTinNighttimeLanternsLizardsSlitsToxinsTin Cans Author:Francesca Lia Block
“You asked me who I thought I was before. I said maybe I was a fish because I love water and you said, you thought a mermaid, maybe. If you were a mermaid, you said, if you were a mermaid, I was the sea.” IfsSaidWaterSeaFishesMermaid Author:Francesca Lia Block
“If you want to find the trail, if you want to find yourself, you must explore your dreams alone. You must grow at a slow pace in a dark cocoon of loneliness so you can fly like wind, like wings, when you awaken.” IfsWantDreamGrowsDarkLonelinessWindWingsYour DreamsFinding YourselfPaceTrailsCocoons Author:Francesca Lia Block
“Tinys do not deserve safety. If they are to prove themselves, they must suffer and die or suffer and survive.” IfsSufferingDiesProveDeserveSafety Author:Francesca Lia Block
“If Death is your father, you don't ever have to worry about what part of his body the disease will strike next. If Death is your lover, you don't have to be afraid that he will ever leave you.” IfsBodyNextFatherWorryLoversDiseaseStrikes Author:Francesca Lia Block
“If you were a mermaid, you said, If you were a mermaid, I was the sea.” IfsSaidSeaMermaid Book:Wasteland Source: Wasteland
“You always fed strays and bent down to talk to the dogs you met on the street, looking straight into their eyes as if they were old friends. (Maybe they are, you said. From another life.) You liked to go to the pound and look at them. You tried to send them messages of comfort. I couldn’t go because I started crying the one time I tried. All those eyes and the barks like sobs.” IfsLooksSaidEyeStreetsDogCryComfortMetsMessagesPoundsFedsOne TimeBentOld FriendsBarkAnother Life Book:Wasteland Source: Wasteland
“It was like when we were little kids and we played games on the ivy-covered hillside in the backyard. We were warriors and wizards and angels and high elves and that was our reality. If someone said, Isn’t it cute, look at them playing, we would have smiled back, humoring them, but it wasn’t playing. It was transformation. It was our own world. Our own rules.” IfsWorldLooksLittlesSaidRealityKidsGamesAngelTransformationWarriorCuteCoveredLittle KidWizardsIvyBackyards Author:Francesca Lia Block
“Writing is very cathartic for me. As a teacher, I hear many students say that writing can be painful and exhausting. It can be, but ultimately I believe that if you push through, the process is healing and exhilarating.” IfsWritingBelieveI BelieveProcessHealingTeacherStudentsPainfulExhaustingExhilaratingCathartic Author:Francesca Lia Block
