Waging war is not a primary physical need.

I know I am made from this earth, as my mother's hands were made from this earth, as her dreams came from this earth and all that I know, I know in this earth, the body of the bird, this pen, this paper, these hands, this tongue speaking, all that I know speaks to me through this earth.

And if the professional rapist is to be separated from the average dominant heterosexual (male), it may be mainly a quantitative difference.

But still, the other voice, the intuitive, returns, like grass forcing its way through concrete.

Self-reflection is a desire felt by the body, as well as the soul. As dancers, healers, and saints all know, when you turn your attention toward even the simplest physical process - breath, the small movements of the eyes, the turning of a foot in midair - what might have seemed dull matter suddenly awakens.

Every time I deny myself I commit a kind of suicide.

I am not so different in my history of abandonment from anyone else after all. We have all been split away from the earth, each other, ourselves.