1.
Because of the world they live in, because of the ways they productively and destructively carry that world inside them
They told me how God was not impersonal but knew me by name, knew how many hairs were on my head, collected my tears in a bottle
The subject is betrayal, so everything is under suspicion
House breakups, the price of housing, shared housing and increasing homelessness
Carriers, as you know, display no symptoms of their disease
reduced portions, shortages at food kitchens
the only Australian horse
spending his final days in the Maribyrnong remount depot. Brutality of war and the heroic lives of men and horses
What is hoarding? Why can’t it just be ‘cleaned up’? In the shell of a house, an ageing mother resists her adult daughter every step of the way towards an important inspection as the house fills to the brim with her belongings
2.
Freedom looks a lot like abandonment
Virginia appeared to be “nodding off” during the proceedings: she would close her eyes, lower her head, then jerk herself awake. Virginia looked like she was under the influence of heroin
this governs the family and inscribes itself in it from one generation to the next
a system of narrative and sexual exchange, the trade in wives and mothers from fathers to sons
they would narrow their eyes and reply that they could tell I was over thirty, probably close to thirty-five
3.
In silence one must endure the use of the Christian name by comparative strangers and the horror of being introduced by Christian and surname without any prefix
That there is no God or that he does not concern himself with us
Turning failure into money
Im into control, and out of control
Reading books alcoholically
Everybody knows this type of family,
He comes home, uses the family like a toy and then he goes again
4.
In periods of political unrest and social upheaval–the Renaissance in Europe, for instance–tight-fitting clothes which allow for quick movement always come into favour. Jerkins in fifteenth-century Italy were so tight that slits had to be made at the joints of the body. Chinese clothes just stopped short of bursting open in the turbulent days when the Revolution was in the making. The last emperor, Pu-yi, reigned for only three years, and by then the jacket clung like a sheath to the arms and body.
5.
the child’s wish for a child
where cash was tight, inconsistent or the source of screaming fights
Homosexuality and the desire for a child
That is, to live independently as possible and to do activities that feel meaningful
The paint, which never dries, is coated on walls and fences with the intention of discouraging endeavoring intruders by staining their clothes
If ever memory has a smell, it is the scent of camphor,
6.
I naturally gravitate toward the discipline of limits
And every 3 hours, plan the next 3 hours
And the truth is I’d rather be working
“the product of a slow and careful accretion of observations and intuitions—like his parents’ gradual process of falling in love”
7.
childrens shoes fashioned to look like adult mens dress shoes,
The one that swims each day in a shallow bucket
There will be adequate food
8.
You’re America’s power couple, who I see over and over again: a hard working, secretly shame-filled, overtly entitled man with an overtly compliant and covertly resentful woman
which are made in China and have lead paint
If you can start using a bike regularly, all other life accomplishments will flow naturally from that skill
And you should feel just a bit uncomfortable when sitting down, because it really is a hazardous activity
