Peter does not center himself as an influencer-writer-genius producing work so insular few can relate. Instead, he masterfully turns the tables.

“He copied and pasted your text and sent it to me.” I rephrased it.

On the television, Paul Hollywood is doling out handshakes - I'd settle for eye contact from my husband-

“If you desire something,” she said, “ask for it with honesty and clear communication. Then accept the answer you receive, whatever it may be.”

We landed on Court TV but didn’t watch it. We talked for five hours.

We cracked the Nyquil bottle’s safety seals and interlaced our arms like two pirate bridesmaids as we counted down our chugging

The freedom is almost overwhelming.

You were compiling something and the itch for alcohol had blocked all business until you’d gotten up, checked the stove, and left.

Telling my wife was hard. Telling my best friend was going to be hard. Telling my family was going to be hard. But leaving was right. And I was raised to do hard things that were right.

You are only who you are to him. Waitresses treat you weird and ask questions..

I suggested we arm wrestle as I did with every boy. I was a pick me and for my spreadsheet.

It is the night before I will meet my future ex wife. Neither of the mirrors are skinny.

It was summer heat 
And the breath of living someone else’s life 

Sisters remain sisters even when one is going through nuclear-grade poisoning and the other is directing a DIY haircut through a phone screen.

I was a woman obsessed, before and after the overdose.

It still bugs me that I never understood why she’d seen Hadestown eleven times (our first date was her twelfth).

The thing about being a lesbian in New York City is that on the third Thursday of any given month you’ll have to stand in a hot Brooklyn bar that is absolutely teeming with gay people. At least four

I was ready to string paper streamers, wires, and sausages from my ceiling and set them on fire. I looked for any crystal chandelier to mount. I longed to feast on croissants and pickles from the tip of a spear. After shrugging off the yoke of Christian dogma, I didn’t need to bear another set of rules.

Cragged rock reaches skyward, gaps in the green either burn scars or metamorphic bands. 

We finish dinner and the waiter comes with shots of limoncello for the table.

64

What violence is there in giving someone a name, carving out Ida's real name

of these fourteen strips, lacing up the endless observations each day

in the deformed images of words that tell

“We come here once a month,” the woman added. “To spice things up.”

I don’t want anything serious. But come to raves with me. Take drugs with me!

I laugh and say, “is that a Rupi Kaur poem?”

A recap of New York's biggest night.