“What I would give to have those usless things with me now, kneeling by my mother's tomb and resting my head against its rough surface. Not the tomb in the hamlet where she had died, but here, in Luzon, in the cemetery built by Harry just for authenticity's sake. When I had seen his field of stones, I had asked to have the biggest tomb for my own use. On the tombstone I had pasted a reproduction of my mother's black-and-white picture that I carried in my wallet, the only extant image of her besides the rapidly fading ones in my mind, which had taken on the quality of a poorly preserved silent movie, its frames cracked by hairline fractures. On the gray face of the tombstone I painted her name and her dates in red, the mathematics of her life absurdly short for anyone but a grade-schooler to whom thirty-four-years seemed an eternity. Tombstone and tomb were cast from adobe rather than carved from marble, but I took comfort in knowing no one would be able to tell on film. At least in this cinematic life she would have a resting place fit for a mandarin's wife, an ersatz but perhaps fitting grave for a woman who was never more than an extra to anyone but me.”
Source: The Sympathizer
“The pain of a loss is always more powerful than the pleasure of an equivalent gain.”
Source: The Art of De-Illusion: How to Stop Your Mind from Lying to You and See the World as It Is
“Two mourning doves somewhere near the decaying barn now resume their lifelong task of attempting to perfect the sound of loss.”
Source: Away
“Nada que uno ha querido mucho vuelve a ser lo mismo.”
Source: The Topless Tower
“The less vulnerable she was with someone, the easier it was to leave them behind.”
Source: The Stardust Thief
“I knew I shouldn't talk about Bobby so much. But Leo was curious about him, he kept asking questions. And no one else asks me about him, ever. It's like Bobby is a ghost everyone has forgotten. And I miss him. I miss him so much. I loved telling Leo about him. Once I started, I just couldn't stop.”
Source: Broken Country
“You earth, you soil, you chewing monster of human hearts in casseroles...”
Source: SONG FOR YOU / CÂNTEC PENTRU TINE (Bilingual English–Romanian Edition / Ediție bilingvă engleză–română / 2025): Poems of Love, Madness & Resurrection / ... nebunie și renaștere
“It’s really suffocating when you can’t say what you feel.”
Source: YOU ARE ABOUT TO BLOOM: A Guide To Self-Healing
“Old age is more about fading away than making new plans. You work within your limitations,without the luxury of second chances.”
Source: Small Things
“But you can’t let go of the people your heart chooses.
—heart won’t let you give up.”
Source: At The Touch Of Love: A Novel