“Haiku is not a shriek, a howl, a sigh, or a yawn; rather, it is the deep breath of life.”

“Real haiku is the soul of poetry. Anything that is not actually present in one's heart is not haiku. The moon glows, flowers bloom, insects cry, water flows. There is no place we cannot find flowers or think of the moon. This is the essence of haiku. Go beyond the restrictions of your era, forget about purpose or meaning, separate yourself from historical limitations—there you will find the essence of true art, religion, and science.”

“The Tuesday scowls, the Wednesday growls, the Thursday curses, the Friday howls, the Saturday snores, the Sunday yawns, the Monday morns, the Monday morns. The whacks, the moans, the cracks, the groans, the welts, the squeaks, the belts, the shrieks, the pricks, the prayers, the kicks, the tears, the skelps, and the yelps.”

“Jem, naturally, was Boo: he went under the front steps and shrieked and howled from time to time.”

“I took a deep breath and sighed in awe. My proverbial penis had just gotten a serious chubby.”

“You're in trouble,' she says, yawning. 'Deep, deep trouble. Can't rival the dead for love. Lose every time.”

“I sighed, a deep and heavy sigh. If only sighs could carry all my troubles away.”