... Survival Is The Least Of My

When I Was Growing Up, I Always Read Horror Books, While My Sister Read Romance Novels.

I Claimed Myself And Remade My Life.

I Put On The Page A Third Look At What I've Seen In Life - The Reinvented Experience Of A Cross-eyed Working-class Lesbian, Addicted To Violence, Language And Hope, Who Has Made The Decision To Live, Is Determined To Live, On The Page And On The Street, For Me And Mine.

I Think I Would Have Died If There Hadn't Been The Women's Movement. It Gave Me A Vision That I Could Do Something Different, And It Gave Me An Understanding That I Wasn't A Monster, Or Sport, Or A Betrayer Of My Family.

I Fell Into Shame Like A Suicide Throws Herself Into A River. (253)