Life is for the living. Don't let the fear of striking out let you from keep you from playing the game.

She offered herself to the big, bad wolf and didn't scream when he took the first bite.

I shake my head. I pick up the rake and start making the dead-leaf pile neater. A blister pops and stains the rake handle like a tear. Dad nods and walks to the Jeep, keys jangling in his fingers. A mockingbird lands on a low oak branch and scolds me. I rake the leaves out of my throat. Me: "Can you buy some seeds? Flower seeds?

In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves.

I would never be popular. I didn't want to be; I liked being shy. I'd never be the smartest or the hottest or the happiest. By eighth grade you start to figure out your limits.

They tied me back together, but they didn't use double knots. My insides are draining out of the fault lines in my skin, I can feel it, but every time I check the bandages, they're dry.

Art without emotion its like chocolate cake without sugar. It makes you gag.