Talent, and genius as well, is like a grain of pearl sand shifting about in the creative mind. A valued tormentor.

Ever since I was a child, folks have thought they had me pegged, because of the way I am, the way I talk. And they're always wrong.

I'll never get used to anything. Anybody that does they might as well be dead.

Actually, I think friendship and love are exactly the same thing.

What we want most is to be held...and told..that everything (everything is a funny thing, is baby milk and papa's eyes, is roaring logs on a cold morning, is hoot owls and the boy who makes you cry after school, is mama's long hair, is being afraid and twisted faces on the bedroom wall)...is going to be alright.

Lively, too. Talky as a jaybird. With something smart to say on every subject: better than the radio.

I was eleven, then I was sixteen. Though no honors came my way, those were the lovely years.