“I was recently denied a writing prize because, they said, I was lazy. What they meant by lazy was that I used too many contractions:” – Lydia Davis, “Can’t and Won’t”

“Scottie, you made it look easy, / the way your legs ate air, / found every escalator up. // i was watching your game. / working my own factory” – José Olivarez, “Ode to Scottie Pippen”

“However Bush came to have won, he would still be winning ten days later and we would still be in the throes of our American optimism.” – Claudia Rankine, ‘Don’t Let Me Be Lonely’

“In the beginning everyone looked like Larry Bird / but everyone did not have the name Larry Bird / & this was confusing. Everyone had a headache” – Mathias Svalina, “Creation Myth”

“Frantic prams. / Romantic oblivion. // He heard a crash / and blamed himself. // Nice hat. / Thanks. // The blue umbrella / walks alone.” – Joshua Beckman and Matthew Rohrer, from ‘Nice Hat. Thanks.’

“Throughout history, I bet every old man probably said the same thing. Old men die, and the world keeps spinning.” – Marty Hart, ‘True Detective’

One last desperately insistent ICYMI

“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’