“Maybe it begins the day you pledge allegiance,face the flag and suddenly clutch your left claviclebecause you find a tender puff of breastwhere yesterday your heart wasOr maybe it happens later when you're walking homefrom school and they rush you on the street--those boys who reach out fast, disgrace your blousewith rubs of dirt, their laughterstinging hot against your face.And you bite your rage, swallow your tearsbecause the fact is, your territory's up for grabsand somehow it's your own damned fault.And one day you stand at your mirrorarmed with jars and razor blades against the scentsand grasses of your shameless bleeding body,and you see what you've become--a freakmanufactured to disguise the real one,the one who sometimes still recalls your innocence,the time before you became a dirty joke.And maybe it begins to end the dayyou try against the odds to love yourself again.Even though you know the worst thingyou can call someone is cunt,you try to love the flesh and fur you are,that convoluted, prehistoric flower,petals dripping weeds and echoingvaguely fragrant odors of the sea.”

“Maybe nothingness is to be without your presence, without you moving, slicing the noon like a blue flower, without you walking later through the fog and the cobbles, without the light you carry in your hand, golden, which maybe others will not see,which maybe no one knew was growing like the red beginnings of a rose. In short, without your presence: without your coming suddenly, incitingly, to know my life, gust of a rosebush, wheat of wind: since then I am because you are, since then you are, I am, we are, and through love I will be, you will be, we will be.”

“Sometimes it's not catastrophic. Sometimes you only come to the bottom of your coffee cup. Sometimes you have a good day. No one wants to know. No one wants to tell you about theirs either. You might somehow take it. Turn it against them. See the flaw. You always tell them the whole thing sucks. It keeps you alive. They figure if you're out there having a rotten time, everything's fine and you're doing your part. No one will ever try to take your bad times away from you but they'll come swarming for your happiness.”

“ll K HamiltonSome days the lion eats you, but some times you shove your arm down it's throat and pull it's visera out through it's mouth and kill it. Of course, sometimes it bites your arm off, and then eats you, but you tried, that's what counts. Some days it's not about winning, but about fighting. If you don't try, the lion will most definetely eat you. But sometimes when you put your all into something, and don't give up even when the odds are so against you, you surprise the lion and yourself, and you win.”

“The hardest thing about being an outcast isn't the love you don't receive. It's the love you long to give that nobody wants. After a while, it backs up into your system like stagnant water and turns toxic, poisoning your spirit. When this happens, you don't have many choices available. You can become a bitter loner who goes through life being pissed off at the world; you can fester with rage until one day you murder your classmates. Or, you can find another outlet for your love, where it will be appreciated and maybe even returned.”

“Choose a companion of your own faith. You are much more likely to be happy. Choose a companion you can always honor, you can always respect, one who will complement you in your own life, one to whom you can give your entire heart, your entire love, your entire allegiance, your entire loyalty.”