“The snow and snow. / This evening would have / The great moon of December.” – Matsuo Basho

“O saviors of prickly heat! what from / ‘Keats’ you O nut shoe bandboxing surface” – Kenneth Koch, “When The Sun Tries To Go On”

“There are places where cops are not hated, Captain. But in those places you wouldn’t be a cop.” – Raymond Chandler, ‘The Long Goodbye’

“What do you have to write about? You’re not oppressed, you’re not gay! [Writers] are all poor, I can tell ya that!” – John Lithgow, ‘Orange County’ (2002)

“I have loved you like darkness loves the base of a throat yet songs I could sing for you won’t come. City of Lou Malnati’s and Giordano’s,” – Phillip B. Williams, “Declaration”

“Professional writers don’t have muses; they have mortgages.” – Larry Kahaner

A toast to the XenoHive!

“And I do think it’s true that men stole / the magical instruments of women // & we were too busy / with ordinary life / to worry about this” – Hoa Nguyen, “You Say The Land” from ‘HECATE LOCHIA’

“The supermarket shelves have been rearranged. It happened one day without warning. There is agitation and panic in the aisles, dismay in the faces of older shoppers.” – Don DeLillo, ‘White Noise’

“If there’s anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now” – Zaphod Beeblebrox, ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy’