“you have had love, and that means

your sternum is a divining rod

for both passion and grief. because the tongue is the body’s

strongest muscle, make it say

joy. make it say I am a factory of splendid things. make it say

the octopus is the smartest animal

in the animal kingdom, and I am an octopus. I am an octopus.

I am happy. my survival

was not an accident, or purposeless.”