“It’s not cold enough for them to migrate, given that it’s 70 degrees in the middle of October, but blue jays don’t really have a strict pattern for migrating. So do they just sense when to leave? Whenever they feel like it? Is that their way of freedom, choosing to leave when they can? Or is it a prison, waiting for your instincts to kick in to let them fly? ”
“ I was an amorphous thing, a shade to pick out, the prerequisite to the discharge papers. She was convinced I’d be a short-term fix, a band-aid. Now, my craters speak to how many months it has been. Now, my pink is obnoxious. Now, my novelty has long worn. ”
“Everyone thinks they are the stars of their own personal TV show. For the more realistic and modest among us, there is always the role of character actor—but we marginalize wimps like these “on” Long Island, where everything, like our pickup trucks and palatial saltwater pools, has to be big...”
“You’re staring at me again with a curl at the edge of your mouth, and I imagine Orpheus, his inability to look anywhere else. I hope that you find me lovely enough to turn to dust. I tell you that you have a nice smile, and you show more teeth.”
— "I Want To Be The Paint Between Your Fingers," Arianna Taylor, Vol 3
