“...you are you and your body of steam,you and your face of night,you and your hair, unhurried lightning,you cross the street and enter my forehead,footsteps of water across my eyes,listen to me as one listens to the rain”

“listen to me as one listens to the rain,the years go by, the moments return,do you hear the footsteps in the next room?not here, not there: you hear themin another time that is now,listen to the footsteps of time,inventor of places with no weight, nowhere,listen to the rain running over the terrace,the night is now more night in the grove,lightning has nestled among the leaves,a restless garden adrift-go in,your shadow covers this page.”

“You moved my head so that it was lying in your lap. "Keep your eyes open," you said. "Stay with me."I tried. It felt like I was using every muscle in my face. But I did it. I saw you from upside down, your lips above my eyes and your eyes above my lips. "Talk to me," you said. My throat felt like it was closing up, as if my skin had swollen, making my throat a lump of solid flesh. I gripped your hand. "Keep watching me, then," you said. "Keep listening.”

“Are you listening, Jasper? Sometimes you'll be walking in the city late at night, and a woman walking in front of you will spin her head around and then cross the street simply because some members of your gender rape women and molest children!”

“What makes you think it was your sperm? My sperm is obviously the dominant sperm. My sperm told your sperm to get to the back of line. The boy will have black hair and green eyes.”Sam shook his head. “I bet my sperm listens to your sperm just about as good as I listen to you. My sperm is also very impatient. It ran to that egg. Little Sam is gonna be a handful.”

“Then I want you to run all of your words backward in your head and listen to them. Then put on my ears and listen to them again, and then tell me what you hear. -Lydia to Seth”