And While It Is True

I Need You To Do More Than Survive. As Writers, As Revolutionaries, Tell The Truth, Your Truth In Your Own Way. Do Not Buy Into Their System Of Censorship, Imagining That If You Drop This Character Or Hide That Emotion, You Can Slide Through Their Blockades. Do Not Eat Your Heart Out In The Hope Of Pleasing Them.

I Told Her, Don't Touch Me That Way. Don't Come At Me With That Sour-cream Smile. Come At Me As If I Were Worth Your Life - The Life We Make Together. Take Me Like A Turtle Whose Shell Must Be Cracked, Whose Heart Is Ice, Who Needs Your Heat. Love Me Like A Warrior, Sweat Up To Your Earlobes And All Your Hope Between Your Teeth. Love Me So I Know I Am At Least As Important As Anything You Have Ever Wanted.

The Worst Thing In The World Was The Way I Felt When I Wanted Us To Be Like The Families In The Books In The Library, When I Just Wanted Daddy Glen To Love Me Like The Father In Robinson Crusoe. (209)

Beauty, My First Girlfriend Said To Me, Is That Inner Quality Often Associated With Great Amounts Of Leisure Time.

I Did Not Begin With Craft, I Began With Strong Feelings And Worked Toward Craft.