“The doves are not doves. King pigeons have two fates: raised for food or raised for release.”

“Can you deny my free will? Can you banish my shadows / silence my echoes, make the person in the mirror disappear”

“Through a crown of pigeon feathers & an obsidian grill, he tells me I won the motherfucking lottery. To hurry up & let him in already.”

“At dusk, orphans flock to the abandoned chapel, / an assembly formed by starvation, from scabs & stuttering ribs, / memories of parents slamming doors to ruined flats& the creak of deadbolts in their ear canals.”

“According to Oklahoma State Law (1.3.XXIV) any such moisture becomes the property of CareCorp at the moment of condensation, when such condensation occurs in corporately-owned airspace. “

Chopin, who, following a lifetime of ill health and heartbreak, died / at age thirty-nine of pericarditis, a painful and sudden disease / of the heart

“ I was uncomfortable with that thought. How often should you take stock of your life and evaluate the direction in which you’re headed? “

“I realized that was the first time in a long time that he was riding as a passenger and traveling much further beyond his regular five-mile radius.”

“we stood at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the sea, / down in Pacifica, remember, near that Fancy Taco Bell, the one / took my sister to for her prom after her boyfriend Rick / drowned down in Santa Cruz”

“ … you say, and don’t answer when they pause, they ask you how long it was and you demur, long, you say, really the truth is it was four years, the length of an education and you don’t know what your world is like now beyond coke and sharing fries with men who don’t know anything about you, …”

“one or two / lines from the poem / using slash to indicate line breaks.”

“ There are an unimaginable number of crows before you, cawing and making clicking sounds. Some of them are already tapping on the windows. Some of them are already in the house. One of them is in front of your dog, who is trying to make himself as small as he possibly can be.”

“You said it was the only ​thing you had left of your father. We fell silent shortly after and watched the waves do their sloshing dance along the streets.”

“You are accepting the reality of a family reunion.”

“These are her thoughts as she tries not to touch the summer’s welts and lumps and itches that insects have bestowed on her, as she notices waterbugs accumulating on the glue traps placed on the kitchen floor each month by the exterminator, as she tries and tries to swat the fruit flies multiplying around the rim of the covered compost bin, as she learns that certain beetles are chewing up the most ancient trees on Earth, as she reads Oliver Milman on the tricks and tribulations of insects.”

“We’re sitting by the fireplace on a new moon night. He says to me, aren’t you ever sad we can’t travel the world? Wouldn’t you like to see the Duomo in Italy or the beaches in Morocco? Don’t you feel trapped…with me? I imagine folding clothes into a suitcase, boarding a plane with ticket in hand, looking out the window—the scenery getting closer, everything taking shape. It would be a lie to say I was always happy with the life I lived, but how could I say that to him. How could I say to him, yes, I dream of running away from you? “