She’s Not As Pretty As You,” I

The Decor Bowled Me Over. Everywhere I Looked, There Was Something More To See. Botanical Prints, A Cross Section Of Pomegranates, A Passionflower Vine And Its Fruit. Stacks Of Thick Books On Art And Design And A Collection Of Glass Paperweights Filled The Coffee Table. It Was Enormously Beautiful, A Sensibility I'd Never Encountered Anywhere, A Relaxed Luxury. I Could Feel My Mother's Contemptuous Gaze Falling On The Cluttered Surfaces, But I Was Tired Of Three White Flowers In A Glass Vase. There Was More To Life Than That.

Purification In Fire. Public Cremation

How Many People Ask You To Come Share Their Life?

Like A Kid Kicked Out Of Class. Humiliated And Free.

When I Read, I Want To Be Fully Transported To Another Place. I Want To Feel Things, Smell Things.