Piece By Piece, My Mother Is Being

Change, When It Comes, Cracks Everything Open.

I Was Born In 1949, And By The Time I Was 10, I Figured Out That My Hope Chest Was Not Aimed In The Same Direction Everybody Else's Was. And That Life Was Going To Be Very, Very Complicated. And That I Could Either Be Provocative And Declamatory, Or Shy, Retiring And Scared.

If I Could Have Found What I Needed At Thirteen, I Would Not Have Lost So Much Of My Life Chasing Vindication Or Death. Give Some Child, Some Thirteen-year Old, The Hope Of The Remade Life. Tell The Truth. Write The Story That You Were Always Afraid To Tell. I Swear To You There Is Magic In It.

She Got A Reputation For An Easy Smile And A Sharp Tongue, And Using One To Balance The Other, She Seemed Friendly But Distant

Behind The Story I Tell Is The One I Don't...behind The Story You Hear Is The One I Wish I Could Make You Hear.