A true inner world is often revealed by style and sensibility as much as by what appears to be confession.

I think because my parents died in their early 50s, mid 50s, I always thought I would die young. And that's been both a useful thing and I suspect something that's haunted me a little bit.

Bring to me, it said, continual proof / you've been alive.

Altruism is for those who can't endure their desires. There's a world as ambiguous as a moan, a pleasure moan our earnest neighbors might think a crime. It's where we could live. I'll say I love you, Which will lead, of course, to disappointment, but those words unsaid poison every next moment. I will try to disappoint you better than anyone else has. --Mon Semblable

I’ll always deny that I kissed her. I was just whispering into her mouth.

I will try to disappoint you better than anyone ever has.

And the words we find are always insufficient, like love, though they are often lovely and all we have.