the lives we lead are determined, for better and worse, by our loss experiences.

We have to divide mother love with our brothers and sisters. Our parents can help us cope with the loss of our dream of absolute love. But they cannot make us believe that we haven't lost it.

Love is much nicer to be in than an automobile accident, a tight girdle, a higher tax bracket or a holding pattern over Philadelphia.

Absence makes the heart grow frozen, not fonder.

I had it together on Sunday. By Monday at noon it had cracked. On Tuesday debris Was descending on me. And by Wednesday no part was intact. On Thursday I picked up some pieces. On Friday I picked up the rest. By Saturday, late, It was almost set straight. And on Sunday the world was impressed With how well I had got it together.

You end up as you deserve. In old age you must put up with the face, the friends, the health, and the children you have earned.

[On writing her first poem at age eight:] An ode to my dead mother and father, who were both alive and pretty pissed off.