Jennifer Clement

Don't ever pray for love and health, Mother said. Or money. If God hears what you really want he will not give it to you. Guaranteed. When my father left my mother said, get down on your knees and pray for spoons.

He stepped on my shadow. I could not walk. And then I could not breathe. I did not know what had happened until it happened. It was like trying to stop the rain.

Don't cry over anything that can't cry over you.

You think you get a dose of tragedy and that's that. You think it can't get any worse and that you're saved now. But tragedy is not like medicine. You don't get a dose like a pill or a spoonful. Tragedy always kicks in.

If you were quiet about something then it never happened. Someone would write a song about it for sure. Everything you’re not supposed to know about, or talk about, eventually turned up in a song. 

Dreaming is cheap. It doesn't cost a thing. In dreams you don't have to pay the bills or pay the rent. In dreams you can buy a house and be loved back.