Maya Mahmud

You don’t have to answer anyone’s questions.

It requires skill to observe your surroundings without naming any objects. The same skill can be used to observe your peers, without psychoanalyzing them.

Without a watch you’re practically the same person only less controlled.

Long-term relationships keep you accountable to your patterns, making it complicated when you’d like to dispel past iterations of character. Good things happen when people are allowed to make up new words.

Say everything with a modicum of uncertainty and watch your life dissolve like sugar on your tongue.

Don’t expect your friends to always excite you. The trick is to keep eye contact, even through a computer screen.

Love is a long stare.

If you’re unsure about what you believe, observe the way your body reacts when you lie.

You are charming when you ask appropriate questions.

When you think erratically, a kind of religion is born in you.

Small insects have a sharp bite. Sunlight is less intense with one eye closed.

If you remember you are breathing more becomes possible.

Wearing a face mask keeps you safe from illness but, makes lipstick obsolete.

Spreading homophobia is like pouring bleach in everyone’s drinking water.

Be aware of your silences.