That’s where proper stories begin, don’t they, when the handsome stranger arrives and everything goes wrong?

If you don't argue, you can't give in.

The boy shall have a proper beating,' said Cecil. 'But I beat him already,' I said, 'and don't tell me I didn't do it properly. I'm touchy about these things.

Death had no lips, but it was smiling

There are no preconditions for jealousy. You don't have to be right, you don't have to be reasonable. Take Othello. He was neither right nor reasonable, and Desdemona ended up dead. I wouldn't mind Leanne ending up dead. I wouldn't mind exploding her into fireworks of peacock and pearl.

A poem doesn’t come out and tell you what it has to say. It circles back on itself, eating its own tail and making you guess what it means.

I don't mean to be ungrateful but if someone's out there answering prayers, mine's not at the top of the list