“The act of creation, the impetus to undertake it, is always some kind of feeble attempt to understand one’s own creation, the nature of creation itself.”

“The act of creation, the impetus to undertake it, is always some kind of feeble attempt to understand one’s own creation, the nature of creation itself.”

“The cabinets and shelves are a bright busy choreography of oils, shampoos, conditioners, scrubs, lotions, salts, unguents. Zinnia loves buying pots and bottles and tubes of alchemised essences that smell like yearning or intimacy on the skin.”

“At that moment the ghost dance seems to Zinnia like the relationship of two people who never quite consummate the love they feel for each other.”

“Every night I build a fire for you, Alowa. Every night I dance on the rooftop for you. Look at the flames, Alowa. Aren’t they beautiful? Look at the smoke. I’m dancing in the smoke, Alowa.”

“It’s in our dreams that we pull people towards us.”

“If you’re not going to feel how are you going to know what to think? Isn’t it in the nature of feeling to evolve thought?”

“Everything sacred begins with a circle of motion.”

“Power needs plots because plots are secret until they unfold and the most gratifying kind of power is holding onto an explosive secret.”

“The temptation to betray a secret, always breathing its hot breath in your ear.”

“To tell a lie is to risk being caught out and there’s excitement in avoiding traps: it was an aspect of my childhood I was perhaps averse to relinquishing.”

“One consequence of ignorance is that it misdirects anger.”