Im always terrified when Im writing.

There are women succeeding beyond their wildest dreams because of their sobriety.

Reading is socially accepted disassociation. You flip a switch and you’re not there anymore. It’s better than heroin. More effective and cheaper and legal.

In my godless household, poems were the closest we came to sacred speech -- the only prayers said.

Such a small, pure object a poem could be, made of nothing but air a tiny string of letters, maybe small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. But it could blow everybody's head off.

If you lie to your husband - even about something so banal as how much you drink - each lie is a brick in a wall going up between you, and when he tells you he loves you, it's deflected away.

I've never contended that I had a really horrible life.