“she said, when I wear these boots no one fucks with mewhen I tie my past like a scarf around my throatI can freeze the bloodof every naive and unabashed up-and-comerwhen I slide on my desire like glowing black stockingsI can make the uninitiated begfor the feel of raw and stinging woodand when I slip my angry black leather beltfrom its rusty hookthe ambitious and guileless cowerlike a thousand condemned soulswhen I close my fist, my rings goldenwith a youth well spentthe warriors of Gilead surrenderwith a breathless whimperand when my shouldersfeel the rough comfort of my serape woven with the fibersof a fierce and relentless vengeanceyou will soon realizethese are not my clothes after all, she says,they are warning signs”

“she whispers into my truculenceand I succumb to that thing called faiththat blind old hag who left her brothers and sistersunder the overpassshe strokes her way into my soula divining rod slips from the heavensa greasy old senior citizenwith stale coffee breathand a proverb for any situationshe recounts the transgressions from a lifetime agowith a glassine visionthe images move in a circular sway,dashing from light to darktruisms to falsehoodsthis is a woman, my friend, with whom you can ride the riverand gaze at the mountainthis is a womanwith a heart fired by the very furnace of Hellyet beats with the sonnets of God”

“I came up with my own expression. I like to make it hail. Yeah. That's when you throw change on sluts.”

“and in that one night's wickedness I drowned all my repentance,all my reflections upon my past conduct,and all my resolution for the future.”

“I know I experience great consolation when my mouth is between a woman’s legs. I think it must be because I’m drinking in her happiness.”

“April 6—Today, I learned, the comma, this is, a, comma (,) a period, with, a tail, Miss Kinnian, says its, importent, because, it makes writing, better, she said, somebody, could lose, a lot, of money, if a comma, isnt in, the right, place, I got, some money, that I, saved from, my job, and what, the foundation, pays me, but not, much and, I dont see how, a comma, keeps, you from, losing it, But, she says, everybody, uses commas, so Ill, use them, too,,,,April 7—I used the comma wrong. Its punctuation…Miss Kinnian says a period is punctuation too, and there are lots of other marks to learn. She said; You, got. to-mix?them!up: She showd? me” how, to mix! them; up, and now! I can. mix (up all? kinds of punctuation— in, my. writing! There” are lots, of rules; to learn? but. Im’ get’ting them in my head: One thing? I, like: about, Dear Miss Kinnian: (thats, the way? it goes; in a business letter (if I ever go! into business?) is that, she: always; gives me’ a reason” when—I ask. She”s a gen’ius! I wish? I could be smart-like-her; Punctuation, is? fun!”

“I began to feel like I was wearing a sign on my forehead that said FUCKED UP in big neon letters.”