Long ago in China, knot-makers tied string into buttons and frogs, and rope into bell pulls. There was one knot so complicated that it blinded the knot-maker. Finally an emperor outlawed this cruel knot, and the nobles could not order it anymore. If I had lived in China, I would have been an outlaw knot-maker.

The work of preservation demands that the feelings playing about in one's guts not be turned into action. Just watch their passing like cherry blossoms.

Do the right thing by whoever crosses your path. Those coincidental people are your people.

Perhaps women were once so dangerous that they had to have their feet bound

I'd like to go to New Society Village someday and find out exactly how far I can walk before people stop talking like me.

Let my life as Poet begin. I want the life of the Poet. I have labored for over twelve years, one thousand pages of prose. Now, I want the easiness of poetry. The brevity of the poem.

How unlike a dead fish a live fish is.