“Moved by Whitman and the ephemerality of my youth, I decided that I would embrace whatever beauty and grace were available to me and maximize the life that I was, at the moment, so happy with.”

“In your offspring, the future women of your bloodline, will you learn to be empowered to take up space; to stop hiding things about yourself that seem different in this cold, new world; to feel content in how much you know about the way the world works.”

“The pages, open and breathing, flutter in the wind, and memories of him wave hello from my desk.

No new movements today, yet no old ones either. I sit. I wave back. I write nothing.”