blame is just as dear as Praise / And Praise as mere as Blame -

[[1320]; Emily Dickinson; >1886]

The Maples never knew that you were coming - / I declare - how Red their Faces grew - / But March, forgive me - / And all those Hills you left for me to Hue - / There was no Purple suitable - / You took it all with you -

[[1320]; Emily Dickinson; >1886]

I ask only / That the rope / Isn't silk, / (Silk doesn't break) / Nor thread, / (Thread does.) / If it lifts / And lowers / Common things, / It will do.

[To W. C. W.  M. D.; Alfred Kreymborg; 1920]

an artificial stance, an impossibility: to speak and listen simultaneously.

[to have been, instead; Stephen Motika; 2012]

the clatter of bones on buried stones, on those leaves fallen, but not as fast as I fell.

[to have been, instead; Stephen Motika; 2012]

Jake was like a book, and if Amanda were to get to know him, it would have to be one page at a time.

[Tell Me How the Wind Sounds; Leslie Davis Guccione; 1989]

The trouble with lip reading was that he had to look right at Amanda.  He had to search her face and watch her mouth, and there weren't enough calluses on his heart to do it painlessly.

[Tell Me How the Wind Sounds; Leslie Davis Guccione; 1989]

Sometimes his deafness felt like drowning. He could save himself if he knew what words to use, if he dared put his feelings into sign. If they were alone together, Amanda might figure it all out herself, but not here, never here.

[Tell Me How the Wind Sounds; Leslie Davis Guccione; 1989]

It was as if being with her pulled him closer to everything he'd missed. Deafness was like swimming under water and Amanda Alden was there, on the surface.

[Tell Me How the Wind Sounds; Leslie Davis Guccione; 1989]

He isn't handicapped.  He just can't hear  [ ... ]

[Tell Me How the Wind Sounds; Leslie Davis Guccione; 1989]