“Twenty thousand birds moved away from me as one, like a ground-hugging white cloud, clucking softly.”

“The woman turns away; one wing blackens like an onyx gem while the other glows white like a bright spotlight. She flies into the sky, leaving the crowd staring in astonishment. Angels fly away in two directions. Half make a black storm of moving, twisting shapes. The other half forms a white-as-snow moving cloud. The ranks are divided.”

“My mama told me don't trust no white boy, even a pretty one. I'm thinkin' a pretty white boy with wings explodin' up from the ground in a mess of blood and ugly-ass bird things is double trouble." - Kramisha (Ch 5)”

“The thousands small birds of January in their smooth soaring cloud finding the trees.”

“The birds have vanished into the sky and now the last cloud drains away. We sit together the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains.”

“...the state of Virginia had turned down twenty-one thousand women for admission to state colleges in 1970 while not turning away a single man...”