the world I create in writing compensates for what the real world does not give me.

An image is a bridge between evoked emotion and conscious knowledge; words are the cables that hold up the bridge. Images are more direct, more immediate than words, and closer to the unconscious. Picture language precedes thinking in words; the metaphorical mind precedes analytical consciousness.

I am visible-see this Indian face-yet I am invisible. I both blind them with my beak nose and am their blind spot. But I exist, we exist. They'd like to think I have melted in the pot. But I haven't. We haven't.

But I'm more scared of not writing.

These my two hands / quick to slap my face / before others could slap it.

I can't seem to stay out of my own way.

I am mad - but I choose this madness.