“Bruises mapped my body from bumping into tables and tripping over curbs while walking with a book in my hand, my eyes focused on the pages instead of the live space around me.”

“You were just a Small Bump unborn, in Four months you're brought to life.
You might be left with my hair, but you'll have your Mother's eyes.
I'll hold your body in my hands be as gentle as I can, but for now you're a scan of my unmade plans.
Small bump, four months you are brought to life.”

“I am marked like a road map from head to toe with my repressions. You can travel the length and breadth of my body over superhighways of shame and inhibition and fear.”

“I walked into my own book, seeking peace.
It was night, and I made a careless movement inside the dream; I turned too brusquely the corner and I bruised myself against my madness.”

“The moment I saw her, a part of me walked out of my body and wrapped itself around her. And there it still remains.”

“You are safe," he said firmly. "You have my name and my family, my clan, and if necessary, the protection of my body as well. The man willna lay hands on ye again, while I live.”

“Showed me pictures in the gallery
Showed me novels on the shelf
Put my hands across the table
Gave me knowledge of myself.
Showed me visions, showed me nightmares
Gave me dreams that never end
Showed me light out of the tunnel
When there was darkness all around instead.”

“Reality is what trips you up when you walk around with your eyes closed.”

“I was raised among books, making invisible friends in pages that seemed cast from dust and whose smell I carry on my hands to this day.”

“Touch me, touch the palm of your hand to my body as I pass,
Be not afraid of my body.”