“Here is a handfulof shadow I have brought back to you:this decay, this hope, this mouth-ful of dirt, this poetry.”

“Screw poetry, it's you I want,your taste, rainon you, mouth on your skin.”

“Back at home they drew the curtains and read, with disapproval, with relish, with avidity and glee - even the ones who'd never thought of opening a novel before. There's nothing like a shovelful of dirt to encourage literacy.”

“I believe in the resistance as I believe there can be no light without shadow; or rather, no shadow unless there is also light.”

“All you have to do, I tell myself, is keep your mouth shut and look stupid. It shouldn't be that hard.”

“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”

“There's nothing like a shovel full of dirt to encourage literacy.”