Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.

Joy is not made to be a crumb. (Don't Hesitate)

I wanted the past to go away, I wanted to leave it, like another country; I wanted my life to close, and open like a hinge, like a wing, like the part of the song where it falls down over the rocks: an explosion, a discovery; I wanted to hurry into the work of my life; I wanted to know, whoever I was, I was alive for a little while.

What I have done is learn to love and learn to be loved. That didn't come easy.

I have a little dog who likes to nap with me. He climbs on my body and puts his face in my neck. He is sweeter than soap. He is more wonderful than a diamond necklace, which can't even bark.

Far off in the red mangroves an alligator has heaved himself onto a hummock of grass and lies there, studying his poems.

But how did you come burning down like a wild needle, knowing just where my heart was?