“They wordlessly excused each other for not loving each other as much as they had planned.”
"Birthmark" in Paris Review (Spring 2003)
Context: They wordlessly excused each other for not loving each other as much as they had planned. There were empty rooms in the house where they had meant to put their love and they worked together to fill these rooms with high-end, consumer-grade equipment. It was a tight situation. The next sudden move would have to be through the wall.
The Shared Patio (2005)
Context: I pretended that I was pausing before telling him about the secret feeling of joy that I hide in my chest, waiting, waiting, waiting for someone to notice that I rise each morning seemingly with nothing to live for, but I do rise, and it is only because of this secret joy, God's love, in my chest. I looked down from the sky and into his eyes and I said, It wasn't your fault. I excused him for the cover and for everything else. For not yet being a New Man. We fell into silence then; he did not ask me any more questions. I was still happy to sit there beside him, but that is only because I have very, very low expectations of most people, and he had now become Most People.
“When you can see the beauty of a tree, then you will know what love is.”
Source: No One Belongs Here More Than You
Source: No One Belongs Here More Than You
“I could not make a move without making love.”
Source: No One Belongs Here More Than You