I was right at the edge of their circle, like the tail of a Q...

It was like we were exchanging codes, on how to be a father and a daughter, like we'd read about it in a manual, translated from another language, and were doing our best with what we could understand.

You can ruin anything if you focus at it.

As a writer you ask yourself to dream while awake.

I am the drying meadow; you the unspoken apology; he is the fluctuating distance between mother and son; she is the first gesture that creates a quiet that is full enough to make the baby sleep. My genes, my love, are rubber bands and rope; make yourself a structure you can live inside. Amen.

I'm obsessed with adolescence. I love to write about people in their 20s. It's such a fraught and exciting and kind of horrible time.

Large meadows are lovely for picnics and romping, but they are for the lighter feelings. Meadows do not make me want to write.