Something having been done just about everywhere just about always is no kind of justification for doing it now.

She let out a laugh, and then she put her hand over her mouth, like she was angry at herself for forgetting her sadness.

I brought the birdcages to the windows. I opened the windows, and opened the birdcages. I poured the fish down the drain. I took the dogs and cats downstairs and removed their collars. I released the insects onto the street. And the reptiles. And the mice. I told them, Go. All of you. Go. And they went. And they didn’t come back

Feeding my children is not like feeding myself: it matters more.

I ran rather than walked, anxious to lose my way. All I wanted was to be unsure.

We burned with love for ourselves, all of us, starters of the fire we suffered- our love was the affliction for which only our love was the cure.

We cracked up together, which was necessary, because she loved me again.