Mineral cactai, quicksilver lizards in the adobe walls, the bird that punctures space, thirst, tedium, clouds of dust, impalpable epiphanies of wind. The pines taught me to talk to myself. In that garden I learnedto send myself off. Later there were no gardens.

Octavio Paz
About This Quote

The following lines are from the poem titled, "A Mineral Cacti" by June Jordan. It's about the author's early life in California during the 1940s and 50s. She talks about her struggles to fit into that environment, her attempts at finding her place in the world, and her first love.

Source: A Draft Of Shadows And Other Poems

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  1. Beyond myself, somewhere, I wait for my arrival.
  2. This is perhaps the most noble aim of poetry, to attach ourselves to the world around us, to turn desire into love, to embrace, finally what always evades us, what is beyond, but what is always there — the unspoken, the spirit, the soul.
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