Being A Decent Human Being Will Require

She Had Reached A Turning Point. She No Longer Believed That A Situation Could Be Made Better By Writing A Poem About It.

You Know What I Can't Understand? You Have All These People Telling You All The Time How Great You Are, Smart And Funny And Talented And All That, I Mean Endlessly, I've Been Telling You For Years. So Why Don't You Believe It? Why Do You Think People Say That Stuff, Em? Do You Think It's A Conspiracy, People Secretly Ganging Up To Be Nice About You?

In The Future, I'll Be Braver, She Told Herself. In The Future, I Will Always Speak My Mind, Eloquently, Passionately.

For Some Time Now She Has Had The Conviction That Life Is About To Change If Only Because It Must. . . .

No Matter How Predictable, Banal And Listless The Rest Of My Life Might Be, You Can Guarantee That There'll Always Be Something Interesting Going On With My Skin.