Suffering is not enough. Life is both dreadful and wonderful...How can I smile when I am filled with so much sorrow? It is natural--you need to smile to your sorrow because you are more than your sorrow.

I don't want to go on being a root in the dark$$$<br>vacillating$$$ stretched out$$$ shivering with sleep$$$<br>downward$$$ in the soaked guts of the earth$$$<br>absorbing and thinking$$$ eating each day.

At night I dream that you and I are two plants<br>that grew together$$$ roots entwined$$$<br>and that you know the earth and the rain like my mouth$$$<br>since we are made of earth and rain.

He who has never tasted jail<br/>Lives well within the legal pale$$$<br/>While he who's served a heavy sentence<br/>Renews the racket$$$ not repentance.

Man is a victim of dope<br/>In the incurable form of hope!

A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men$$$ women$$$ an occasional animal$$$ and the common cold.

When grandparents enter the door$$$ discipline flies out the window.

A celestial camera recorded my every movement$$$ impartially$$$ without judgement or pity. I was marked; I was of interest; I would survive.

Neither my father nor grandfather could put dates to their stories. Not because they had forgotten or were confused; the past was simply the past.

Me black and beautiful was the first thing she taught me. Then she pointed to the policeman with the gun outside and taught me: He pig.