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“Words are heavy
and they take up space.
My body is burdened under their weight.”
― Najaha Nauf, October Defined: an anthology of verse

“A treacherous cycle of forgetting. Still, when she says, "next time, we'll have more time to hang out", I know she means to say, "I'll continue to miss you far longer than I've known you",”
― Najaha Nauf, October Defined: an anthology of verse

“I'm sorry," you wrote in a diary I discovered at 11, "I'm sorry I did this to you."

But how could you have known that sorrow has a way with the womb? How could you have known that blood left scars that ran deeper than love could ever heal?”
― Najaha Nauf, October Defined: an anthology of verse

“I want to look at him and think, 'I'd burn cities to keep you warm', better yet I want to think, 'I'd plant forests to keep you alive'.”
― Najaha Nauf, October Defined: an anthology of verse

“most often I am running away from my comfort in fear of being complicit / if I stay still / I am surrendering to the fate of every woman before me / if I run / I will lose sight of what's important to me.”
― Najaha Nauf, October Defined: an anthology of verse

“Some nights
the kitchen is haunted by your feet
and the ghosts of your tears,
you look at the grill lining the window
and grieve
for open skies
open arms
a childhood still out of reach.”
― Najaha Nauf, October Defined: an anthology of verse