Jo

“I live my life through a glass darkly, waiting for the light to fascinate me”

“I never know the right thing to say or think and sometimes I forget where I am and say things I should not. Or say things I would not if I took a minute to step outside my own head. I like it in here. In my head, I mean. It is other people who are worried about what is going on in there. I have decided not to come out of my head. If they want me, they can come in”.

“Am I sounding creepy? Love is sort of creepy. When you fall in love, you presuppose all sorts of things about the person. You superimpose all kinds of ideals and fantasies on them. You create all manner of unrealistic, untenable, unsatisfiable criteria for that person, automatically guaranteeing their failure and your heartbreak. And what do we call it? Romance. Now that’s creepy.”

“But love is not rational or reasonable or logical. It is a bird’s nest made of capillary and nerve and dubious judgement.”

“From time to time, when I’m feeling sad, I draw myself reflected in his window, superimposed on him like a ghost, or a paper doll’s dress, with my gold and serpent belt. So he is looking at me and I am looking back at myself.”

“Coda: It is best to stay alert when it does not take much to make them crack.”

“At least, with blinds pulled up, she’ll get some sun. By mid-afternoon the sun will hit her window in such a way that I’ll hardly be able to see her. She’ll disappear inside refraction and glare.”

“Think of night-time with a speaking voice. Or think how moonlight might talk, or think of ink, if ink had vocal chords.”

“It was the green that emeralds and dragons usually come in; which felt to Sophie like a good omen.”

“They did not taste remotely like strawberries, but they did taste like adventure.”