“She ignores me, so I cup my hands over my mouth and do something I haven’t done in years— barnyard sounds.”

“I stop in front of Olivia and cup her face in my hands, kissing her sweetly on the mouth. She looks up at me with her liquid eyes and something in me melts away. I think to myself that I hope it wasn't something important. Something that I needed.”

“I made art out of all the phone numbers on napkins I’ve had over the years. So it was just one napkin, and I wiped my mouth with it after I was done.”

“What’s nefarious?’ ‘I don’t know, but my grandma accuses me of having them when she thinks I done something bad and it sounds good.”

“I cupped my hands over my ears. “No, no, no. Get out. Get dead.”

“turns me on so loud it's like no sound, everybody yelling at me hands over their ears from behind a glass wall, faces working around in talk circles but no sound from the mouths. my sound soaks up all other sound.”