“Tell that guy to kiss my white vivacious ass. He never met me.”

“Look at that, Vera.”I tilt my head back and see a sky full of stars.“Can you tell which one is me?” he asks.I point to the brightest one.”

“I think today is already sucky enough without splinters in my ass.”

“No patience. No kisses. No hugs. Just a tweezers and some rubbing alcohol, and a stinging sensation that never goes away.”

“The willow is green; flowers are read. The flower is not red; nor is the willow green. Same went for Charlie. Charlie was my friend; he was very nice to me. Charlie was not my friend; nor was he very nice to me.”

“I get the urge to feel it, too, so when she takes her hand away, I turn her toward me and I feel the edges of New Jersey. I kiss Hoboken and Atlantic City. I kiss Newark and Trenton. I kiss Camden, and then I follow the road west, over the Walt Whitman Bridge into Pennsylvania. And I kiss home.”

“She looked into space a lot, didn't say much, and kissed my father when midnight came, as if she were punching a time card.”