Don't uncork what you can't contain

My mother wanted me to understand that as a woman I could do pretty much whatever I wanted to, that I didn't have to use sex or sexuality to define myself.

When I was pregnant, I felt filled with life, and I felt really happy. I ate well, and I slept well. I felt much more useful than I'd ever felt before.

Some girls are taught to be sexy.

Last year's troubles, They shine up so prettily, They gleam with a lustre they don't have today.

And I really wanted a driver's license. I was 43, had my learner's permit and had failed the test once already - but that was in Riverhead, on Long Island.

If language were liquid, it would be rushing in. Instead here we are in a silence more eloquent than any word could ever be.