“So I came down here, to breathe dust and walk with the dogs-- to look at a rock or a cactus and know that I am the first person to see that cactus and that rock.”

“Stop brooding. Or at least if you’re gonna continue, don’t sit so close to that cactus. You’re bumming the both of us out. See? Its tiny little cock has gone limp.”The magazine slides to the floor as I turn my head to see the sorry-looking cactus behind the couch. What Eric is referring to as its penis hangs limp on the ‘body’ like it always has.”

“I am a sacrifice bound with cords to the horns of the world's rock altar, waiting for worms. I take a deep breath, I open my eyes. Looking, I see there are worms in the horns of the altar like live maggots in amber, there are shells of worms in the rock and moths flapping at my eyes. A wind from no place rises. A sense of the real exults me; the cords loosen: I walk on my way.”

“I bought a cactus. A week later it died. And I got depressed, because I thought, Damn. I am less nurturing than a desert.”

“Here I am Rock You Like a Hurricane.”

“Rock star. The words are so full of smoke and mirrors that it's impossible to find a real person behind them. But I am a rock star. I have the bank account of a rock star and the platinum records of a rock star and the girlfriend of a rock star. But I fucking hate that term, and hearing Mia pin it on me ups the level of my loathing to a new stratosphere.”