“Its voyeuristic the way you searchfor answers in these cries for help,and how you see Deaths fingersbut always think theyre paintbrushes.”

“I felt happier yesterday. I do not feel happy today I feelabandoned and godless and brokenin a church built for the damnedwith artificial light through stained glassand warped wooden doors.”

“I am still trying and trying to exorcise youbut you cling to me like mud or bloodstains,like a battlefield fought in my imaginationevery day that I raise my pen against the swordyou used to slice m...”

“When I wake from my nightmaresIm more afraid of the breath in my lungs than whatever might be chasing me.”

“But nobody writes fairy talesabout the ugly and poemsare not there for the brokenand I will never find myselfin the words of a hymnnor will any whispered prayerever say my name(which name, which me...”

“In July I thinkabout the idea of being cursed(because its not strange to me;when I look in mirrors Imnot there, blank walls gleamingwith bloody condensation,and my shadow behind memocking me with h...”

“I am a person before I am anything else. I never say I am a writer. I never say I am an artist...I am a person who does those things.”

“The point, I decided, wasn't to have the autobiography or even the memories. The point was who I became when I wrote.”

“The willingness to reach inside every part of yourself opens the door to total understanding. You place your entire identity on the line, not just an isolated part. This may sound daunting, but act...”

“Im not a woman you bring home to Mother, pick out china patterns with, or Mary forefend, breed. Ive seen a chunk of the universe, true, but theres still so much more to see. I doubt Ill ever cure t...”

“My hope, my heaven, my trust must be,My gentle guide, in following thee.”

“Amory took to writing poetry on spring afternoons, in the gardens of the big estates near Princeton, while swans made effective atmosphere in the artificial pools, and slow clouds sailed harmonious...”

“And wishes, truly wishes, that she could say the same herself. Because hurting herself would be so much easier.”