I began writing at the age of 5, but there was a dark period between the ages of 8 and 16 when I didn't write. I started again at 16. And have no idea why, but it was suddenly the only thing I wanted to do.

I sometimes felt as if these marks on my body were a kind of code, which blossomed, then faded, like invisible ink held to a candle. But if they were a code, who held the key to it? I was sand, I was snow — written on, rewritten, smoothed over.

Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress.

I wanted to forget the past, but it refused to forget me; it waited for sleep, then cornered me.

To live in prison is to live without mirrors. To live without mirrors is to live without the self.

I did not know how to paint or even what to paint, but I knew I had to begin.

Gardening is not a rational act. What matters is the immersion of the hands in the earth, that ancient ceremony of which the Pope kissingthe tarmac is merely a pallid vestigial remnant.