A little thing, like children putting flowers in my hair, can fill up the widening cracks in my self-assurance like soothing lanolin.

In this particular tub, two knees jut up like icebergs, while minute brown hairs rise on arms and legs in a fringe of kelp; green soap navigates the tidal slosh of seas breaking on legendary beaches; in faith we shall board our imagined ship and wildly sail among sacred islands of the mad till death shatters the fabulous stars and makes us real.

Love life day by day, color by color, touch by touch.

I talk to God but the sky is empty.

Why can’t I try on different lives, like dresses, to see which fits best and is more becoming?

Out of the ash I rise with my red hair and I eat men like air.

My mother said the cure for thinking too much about yourself was helping somebody who was worse off than you.