“I drank in the scene around me. Some people were directing traffic, some were throwing buckets full of water on the flames (the whole bucket too, not just the contents), some were snapping photos and one guy, I recognized as a regular of the Black Opal, Scully, was clutching a stool and crying.It was like the bleacher seats at a Cubs game when the beer gets cut off...”

“I got to thinking that poems were like people. Some people you got right off the bat. Some people you just didn't get--and never would get.”

“I wouldn't trust you with a bucket of water if my knickers were on fire!”

“It wallowed in its water-bed; it burrowed, heaved and swung; It gnawed its way ahead with grunts and sighs; Its bill of fare was rock and sand; the tailings were its dung; It glared around with fierce electric eyes. Full fifty buckets crammed its maw; it bellowed out for more; It looked like some great monster in the gloom.”

“Some people try to change the world one life at a time. Others try to change the world one death at a time. And I try to change the world one bucket full of dirt at a time.”

“I had expected the well to be full for some reason.Not that it had ever been before.I kept looking for signs of water in the dark insides.I heard my bucket clank as it hitAgainst the walls that held nothing.I look at the bucket that came up emptyAnd made a decision that changed my life.I will keep my bucket and find another well.”