Too many novice writers have a simplistic vision of an ice world, a jungle world, or even an ocean world. . . . [T]ake look at our planet. It's hardly a one-ecosystem world. . . .

As we are dying we reveal / ourselves. This is why / when I kiss you I close / my eyes sometimes.

Comparing the soundtracks to the movies, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has become something of an Olympic event among reviewers.

My father was an electrician. My mother taught piano. I don't remember much about my sister, except that she was very beautiful. There are no photographs; all I have are memories.