“If someday, in a morning, you see you,in a mirror or the dent of a spoon, and wonderWhere is my soul andWhere has it gone, remember this:Catch the gaze of a womanon the metro, subway, tram.Look at a man. Seek andyou will find youin the silvered space,a flash between souls.”

“Where we live in the worldis never one place. Our hearts,those dogged mirrors, keep flashing usmoons before we are ready for them.”

“maybe we try too hard to be remembered, waking to the glowing yellow disc in ignorance, swearing that today will be the day, today we will makesomething of our lives. what if we are so busy searching for worth that we miss the sapphire sky and cackling blackbird. what else is missing?maybe our steps are too straight and our paths too narrow and not overlapping. maybe when they overlap someone in another country lights a candle, a coupleresolves their argument, a young man puts down his silver gun and walks away.”

“I knew what slant of light would make you turn over. It was then I felt the highways slide out of my hands. I remembered the old men in the west side cafe, dealing dominoes like magical charms.”

“Amal, you look stunned," said Mrs. Melchor. "Have you been struck by lightning between classes?""Yes," she said. "The lightning of ignorance."Mrs. Melchor raised her eyebrows.”

“It is really hard to be lonely very long in a world of words. Even if you don't have friends somewhere, you still have language, and it will find you and wrap its little syllables around you and suddenly there will be a story to live in.”

“Or maybe his reclusiveness was a decisive marketing strategy-if you disappear, people are more interested in your work. You become a legend while you're still alive. Crouching behind a stonewall, or the post under a house...people are kneeling down to find you.”