“I spoke fire, laughed smoke, and madness spilled forth from my inspiration.”

“Her laugh. The way she smoked before she gave up. Smoke trickling up her nostrils. Spokes of smoke when she spoke.”

“You don't smoke do you?""No, why?""They're afraid of fire.""Great, we're going to be eaten alive because neither of us smokes." I almost laughed. He sounded so thoroughly disgusted…”

“On those nights, the words were for me alone. They came up unbidden from my heart. They spilled over my tongue and spilled out my mouth. And because of them, I, who was nothing and nobody, was a prince of Denmark, a maid of Verona, a queen of Egypt. I was a sour misanthrope, a beetling hypocrite, a conjurer's daughter, a mad and murderous king.”

“so word for word/My master spoke, and I asked him for the food/To fill the appetite these words inspired.”

“She was up and down—from fire and brimstone to smoke and ashes.”