"It’s too ugly to speak this story. It sounds like a beggar. How could misfortune follow me so well, and why did I cho…"

"I left my home because welfare was making me choose between my baby’s formula or oatmeal for myself. The ugly truth i…"

"Isaiah cried all night, and I remembered well that I held a hand over his mouth, long enough for me to know I am a ho…"

"My story was maltreated. The words were too wrong and ugly to speak. I tried to tell someone my story, but he thought…"

"Sometimes suicidality doesn’t seem dark; it seems fair."

"The book does everything it technically shouldn’t, brushing off the familiar regimen prescribed by MFA programs, and …"

"Having always felt deeply impatient and limited by having to express myself in perfect grammar and punctuation (this …"

"Deal-making is an ability you're born with. It's in the genes."

"People think I'm a gambler. I've never gambled in my life. To me, a gambler is someone who plays slot machines. I pre…"

"Sometimes it pays to be a little wild."