“In the night I come to you and it seems a shame to waste my deepest shudders on a wall of a man.”

“The worst is over, the worst is yet to come”

“Heswept the ears to the floor with his arm and heldthe last of his wine in the air. Something for yourpoetry, no? he said. Some of the ears on the floorcaught this scrap of his voice. Some of the ears onthe floor were pressed to the ground.”

“One can live without having survived”

“Out the corner of my eye I see Packard fly at Marty, pin him against the wall. "You do not do that! You do not!" He jerks Marty with every *not*. "You do *not* disrespect that woman, you understand me?" Packard speaks through his teeth, as if to bite back his fury. "It was your goddamn *lucky* day she decided to come in here. And you would spit at her? You were *privileged* she came in here!”

“Oh.” Packard steps back. “I didn’t come in here forthis.”“I didn’t either.”There’s this silence where it seems like one of usought to utter a sentence that begins with the word yet.”

“I wanted something from him then, this man I'd married. I wanted to dance with him in our living room late at night; I wanted to make love on the floor while a song that shaped all my views of love played in the background. If this was love, if this was marriage, then we should have access to everything those songs promised. We should own that romance. I gathered my courage; I walked over & put my hand on his shoulder, pulled him to his feet, but I knew immediately that i couldn't go through with it. We were both too self-conscious. He did a kind of joke dance, swinging me around with jerky movements, and then he went up to bed, leaving me by myself. And how could I could complain? That was the man I married; he was wonderful in many ways, but he was never going to dance with me in our living room. He wasn't going to come back down the stairs and take me in his arms. Those were just facts I'd have to face.”