You might 'write from the heart,' but you'd better polish with your brain.

oil paints...the look of licked lips.

Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can't go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.

If you're not annoying somebody, you're not really alive.

The heart with letters on it shining like a light bulb through the trim hole painted in the chest, art history.

I'm a fool, to confuse this with goodness. I am not good. I know too much to be good. I know myself. I know myself to be vengeful, greedy, secretive and sly.

I walk away from him. It's enormously pleasing to me, this walking away. It's like being able to make people appear and vanish, at will.