“His skin is so hard and rough, it’s like shaking a piece of tree bark.”

“Alas, that love, so gentle in his view,Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof!*It’s sad. Love looks like a nice thing, but it’s actually very rough when you experience it.*”

“As the poet said, 'Only God can make a tree' -- probably because it's so hard to figure out how to get the bark on.”

“Cicadas bury themselves in small mouthsof the tree's hollow, lie against the bark tongues like amulets,though it is I who pray I might shake off this skin and be raisedfrom the ground again. I have nothingto confess. I don't yet know that I possessa body built for love. When the wind grazesits way toward something colder, you, too, will be changed. One life abradesanother, rough cloth, expostulation.When I open my mouth, I am like an insect undressing itself.”

“If a person remains tense for a long time he might not notice it himself, but it’s like his nerves are a piece of rubber that has been stretched out. It’s hard to go back to the original shape.”

“Our mouths and bodies speak for us in a new language as the trees shake loose a rain of petals that stick to our slickness like skins we will wear forever. And just like that, I am changed.”