Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Claudia Rankine

Quote by Claudia Rankine

“One of the things that I think about is: How do you make moments that float, transparent? Moments that could just float away. How do you make a body accountable for its language, its positioning? Why not make a body accountable for its language?”

Quote by Claudia Rankine

Create image

Author

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

You May Also Like

“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.”

ThinkingWaySometimesDesireLanguageHurtFailingSucceedCommunicateViolentTriumphIt HurtsSometimes It Hurts
Author:Claudia Rankine
Create image

“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
Author:Claudia Rankine
Create image

“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
Create image

“In the future, we've forgotten it. It's disappointing to find out that the past is the present is the future. Nobody wants that. And yet, that's what it is. Maybe it's a kind of surrealist move, to use language like "post-racial" - thinking that if you create the language for it, it will happen. I wish it worked that way. But that's not our reality.”

IfsThinkingWayWantKindUseRealityHappensPastMovingLanguageWishForgottenPostsDisappointingSurrealist
Author:Claudia Rankine
Create image