- after a quake, the six o'clock news airs a film clip of first-graders yelling at the broken playground per their teacher's instructions. "bad earth!" they shout, because anger is stronger than fear. (from "in the cemetery where al jolson is buried")
- he wondered how we know that what happens to us isn't good. (from "the man in bogota)
- it had been suggested that i rub my leg with ice, to bring up the scars, before i hiked my skit three years later for the court. but there was no ice in the judge's chambers, so i did not get a chance to pass or fail that moral test. (from "the harvest")
- "the last thing i said to her," big guy remembers, "was, 'mom, guess what the kids at school have?' i told her, 'sunglasses,' and she said, 'Save your money.'" (from "the most girl part of you")
- sometimes, when the cannon goes off at dawn, i wake up and find myself in the pose my mother died in--lying on her side, her arm reaching from under her head as though she were doing the sidestroke in a pool, the pills she had swallowed weighing her down like so many pebbles in her pockets. (from "tom-rock through the eels")
- the weekend the couple next door had moved in--their rental began on memorial day--i heard them place a bet on the moon. she said waxing, he said waning. days later, the moon nearly full in the night sky, i listened for the woman to tell her husband she had won, knowing they had not named the terms of the bet, and that the woman next door would collect nothing. (from "beach town")
- i was not put on this earth to fill my own tank, but i have come to look forward to doing it. (from "jesus is waiting")
- just once in my life--oh, when have i ever wanted anything just once in my life ("memoir")
feb 15 2009 ∞
feb 15 2009 +