• "deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn't matter. i'm not sure a bad person can write a good book. if art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for." --alice walker
• "writing is the only thing that, when i do it, i don't feel i should be doing something else." --gloria steinem
• "writers will happen in the best of families." --rita mae brown
• "poetry: the best words in the best order." --samuel taylor coleridge
• "fill your paper with the breathings of your heart..." --william wordsworth
• "don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." --anton chekhov

• forget-me-nots.
• gardenias.
• azaleas.
• hydrangeas.
• the english language.
• charles wallace and biscoff.
• sissy's baby blanket.
• tiny pillow.
• the moon.
• halloween and christmas.
• old-school pin-ups.
• taking pictures.
• books of poetry.
• having my window open.
• sunny days.
• clear skies at night when the moon is shining bright.
• ma famille.
• my (i)phone. it'd be a difficult life without it at this point.

empty notebooks just waiting to be writte...

• fiona brienne
• liam carlson
• michaella rose
• jacob ian
• isabelle
• aidan joaquin
• bridget
• éire; pronounced air-uh

• ani difranco (she totally counts as a writer [of songs and some poetry]).
• sylvia plath.
• sappho.
• marge piercy.
• john donne.
• gregory maguire.
• philippa gregory.
• vladimir nabokov.
• jane austen.
• madeleine l'engle.
• j.k. rowling.
• most 16th century poets.
• oscar wilde.
• w.b. yeats.
• toni morrison.
• rainer maria rilke.
• chaucer (yeah, i admitted it).
• me.
• countless others.

• Skim milk.
• Shrimp, cooked any way.
• Grandpappy's Cajun shrimp.
• Momma's jambalaya.
• Daddy's spaghetti.
• Fried crab claws.
• Heinz ketchup with so many things.
• Mexican rice.
• Pasta.
• Chocolate-covered strawberries.
• Fruit (cherries, peaches, plums, bananas, apples, strawberries, etc.)
• Peas.
• Peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
• Peanut butter and apple jelly sandwiches.
• Cherry Coke.
• Dark chocolate pomegranates. dear me, yes.
• Reduced-fat Nilla Wafers.

• san franciso.
• chicago.
• seattle.
• portland.
• niagara falls.
• new york city.
• los angeles.
• orange county, california.
• maine.
• boston.
• montana.
• colorado.
• the dakotas.
• mount rushmore.
• new orleans.

• "and I think of your letters as love letters / which is how I think of songs / in that it is the writing of them / that tends to carry us along / and I dance to one of your old tunes / with my true love on our wedding day / and your voice sang the way my heart would sing / if it finally knew just what to say." --"Soft Shoulder"
• "We get a little further from perfection / each year on the road / I guess that's what they call character / I guess that's just the way it goes / better to be dusty than polished / like some store window mannequin / Why don't you touch me where I'm rusty / Let me stain your hands // When you're pretty as a picture / they pound down your door / but I've been offered love / in two dimensions before / and I know that it's not all / it's made out to be / Let's show them how it's done / Let'...

• Multiple goldfish. I only remember two names--Colin and Molly.
• Jingles--Sheltie.
• Murphy--Sheltie.
• Charlotte--She was a cat who looked like a raccoon. She was a good cat.
• Duncan--Cockapoo.
• Smudge--White cat with a dark smudge on his forehead.
• Georgie--Short hair miniature dachshund.
• Gigi--Tiny kitten, calico, I think.
• Baby--Short hair miniature dachshund.
• Jackson--Short hair miniature dachshund.
• Cat--He's big and peachy colored.
• Buster Banjo Harrison Killebrew (actually Loree's, and only for four days, but still)--He was a corgi mix.
• Izzy--Long hair miniature dachshund.

• I want a many-windowed, pretty yellow house filled with hundreds, thousands of books.
• I want to have a garden that I do myself filled with forget-me-nots and gardenias and azaleas and hydrangeas and lilies and dogwood trees and lots of herbs.
• I want a job I enjoy. One that doesn't involve me stuck in a cubicle in an office with bad, fluorescent lighting.
• I want to be a real published writer.
• I want to be a professor.
• I want my children to trust me and talk to me about things.
• I want my grandchildren to know me, and I want to know them.

• mMy hair. Both natural color and the color I make it.
• My hourglass figure.
• My feet.
• My belly button.
• All my freckles.
• My green eyes and how there's that bit of goldenrod around the pupil.
• My sense of humor.
• My ability to make people laugh.
• My laugh, even if it does sound like the laughing baby on youtube.
• My supreme poetry-writing skills.
• My hands, how small and child-like they are.

• i'm a picky eater.
• i'm kind of a vegetarian, but i'd never call myself that.
• i'm irish-catholic and damn proud of it!
• i have a big extended family.
• i'm weird.
• i have serious issues.
• i have trust issues.
• i'm a natural blonde.
• i have green eyes. not blue. not brown. not hazel. green.
• i have an unhealthy obsession with ani difranco.
• i love making lists.
• i procrastinate like no other.
• i'm easily bored, but i'm enthralled by conversations with a person who thinks they're boring me.
• if you're a guy, i've probably had a thing for you, have one for you now, or will have one for you in the future.

• ireland!
• seafood (always).
• home visits.
• first kisses.
• future romantic relationships.
• getting my hair re-colored.
• birthdays and holidays.
• getting married someday.
• having lots of kids someday.
• having a boy like me.
• reading all the books i haven't gotten to yet.
• writing all my stories.
• seeing my puppies.
• seeing blakeley.
• graduation.
• grad school.

• Gwendolyn Brooks, "We Real Cool"
• Frances Cornford, "The Guitarist Tunes Up"
• Robert Frost, "It Takes All Sorts"
• R.S. Gwynn, "Snow White and the Seven Deadly Sins"
• Ann Hayes, "Dream of Fair Women"
• Robert Herrick, "Upon Julia's Voice"
• Rudyard Kipling, "Seal Lullaby"
• Alexander Pope, "Sound and Sense"
• Dudley Randall, "Ballad of Birmingham"
• Dudley Randall, "Blackberry Sweet"
• Richard Wilbur, "The Writer"

• ani difranco.
• indigo girls.
• fiona apple.
• india.arie.
• regina spektor.
• wicked soundtrack.
• joshua radin.
• christina aguilera.
• dance party mixes.
• canon in d, fur elise, and ronda alla turca to drown out the silence.