My arias make me take off as if I were on a trampoline.

Swan, by Mary Oliver. Poems and prose. Reading from this book is as if visiting a very wise friend. There is wisdom and welcoming kindness on every page.

It is still more likely that a woman's power would be seen as aggression, and a man's power would be seen as assertion.

Pigeon-holes are only comfortable for pigeons.

I like so many different kinds of music that I've never allowed myself the limitations of one particular range.

There's no anger ever in a spiritual. There's always the dream of a hope of a better day coming. That God understands the troubles that I'm experiencing.

My arias make me take off as if I were on a trampoline.