“Beekeeper sing of your frustrationIn this litigious breezeOf accidental pollinationIn this era without beesWe keep breeding desperationIn this era of thievesWho keep stealing respirationFrom the tenderest of trees”

“We were all basically alone, and despite what all his studies had shown what was mistaken for closeness was just a case of mitosis.”

“Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming.”

“How exactly are you supposed to force your way into someone's life? Like I said, I have nothing she wants anymore. Not even, or especially not, my love.”

“I shrug and smile amiably the way you do when you're in a foreign country and have no idea what anyone is saying, so you end up grinning and nodding your way into a three-way with a henna vendor and a camel.”

“Stealing to eat ain’t criminal—stealing to be rich is.”

“The streets are empty. Wind skims the voids keeping neighbors apart, as if grazing the hollow of a cut reed, or say, a plundered mailbox. A familiar note is produced. It's the one Desolation plays to keep its instrument in tune.”