Writing is not, alas, like riding a bicycle: it does not get easier with practice.

Out of the new arrivals in our lives--the odd word stumbled upon in a difficult text, the handsome black stranger who bursts in one night through the cat door, the telephone call out of a friend's silence of years, the sudden greeting from the girl-child---we constantly make of ourselves our selves.

If only we could have them back as babies today, now that we have some idea what to do with them.

A line, once crossed, can never be uncrossed.

God enters the world through those of us who are willing to let God participate fully in our lives.

That's the trouble with honorable mentions: they let everyone know you applied and didn't win.

our lives are stories we tell ourselves.