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Quote by Claudia Rankine

“I also found it funny to think about blackness as the second person. That was just sort of funny. Not the first person, but the second person, the other person.”

Quote by Claudia Rankine

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Claudia Rankine
Claudia Rankine

Claudia Rankine is an American poet known for her poetry and prose works that explore themes of race, gender, and identity. Her works often start from personal experiences and public events, known for their unique narrative style and linguistic experimentation. more

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“I think of the described dynamics as a fluid negotiation. I don't think these specific interactions can happen to the black or brown body without the white body. And there are ways in which, if you say, "Oh, this happened to me," then the white body can say, "Well, it happened to her and it has nothing to do with me." But if it says "you," that you is an apparent part of the encounter.”

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Author:Claudia Rankine
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“I think words are the thing that either triumphs for you, in your desire to communicate something, or fails. I love language because when it succeeds, for me, it doesn't just tell me something. It enacts something. It creates something. And it goes both ways. Sometimes it's violent. Sometimes it hurts you. And sometimes it saves you.”

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Author:Claudia Rankine
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“When you achieve it fully, you create something that's transparent - that people can move into and through their own experiences. As a writer, I don't want people spending time thinking, "What does she mean?" I want, in a way, my text to go away. So that the words on the page become a door to one's own internal investigation. It's just a passage. If the work does its job, it just opens.”

PeopleIfsThinkingWayWantMeanDoeJobsMovingDoorsAchievePagesSpendingInternalsGoing AwayPassagesInvestigationTransparentSpending Time
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“Whereas if you were writing an op-ed piece or an essay, somebody would be asking, "What's your point?" With poetry you can stay in a moment for as long as you want. Poetry is about metaphor, about a thing standing in for something else. It's the thing that opens out to something else. What that something else is changes for readers. So what's on the page - it falls away.”

IfsWantWritingLongMomentsWould BeFallPiecesReaderPagesStandingAskingMetaphorPoetry IsEssays
Author:Claudia Rankine
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